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LEMNIAN ATHENA
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
IN ENGLISH LITERATURE
AND IN ART
BASED ORIGINALLY ON BULFINCH»S «AGE OF FABLE »» (1855)
ACCOMPANIED BY AN INTERPRETATIVE AND
ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTARY
BY
CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY, Litt.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
NEW EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • BAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1893, 1911, BY CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY
ENTERED AT STATIONERS* HALL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVBD
824.3
323171
' • • • • • • •
• • • • . • , •
GINN AND COMPANY • PRO-
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.8.A.
TO THE MUSES
Whether on Ida's shady brow,
Or in the chambers of the East,
The chambers of the sun, that now
From ancient melody have ceas'd;
Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair.
Or the green comers of the earth,
Or the blue regions of the air,
Where the melodious winds have birth;
Whether on crystal rocks ye rove,
Beneath the bosom of the sea.
Wandering in many a coral grove,
Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry;
How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoyed in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move.
The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!
William Blake
O antique £aUes! beautiful and bright
And jo3rou8 widi die joyous youtii of yoie;
O antique fables! for a littie lig^t
Of that which shineth in you evennore,
To dcanse the dimness from our weary eyes,
And bathe our old worid with a new suq)rise
Of golden dawn entnmdng sea and shore.
JAMXS Thomson
IV
PREFACE
In this new edition of "The Classic Myths in English Litera--
ture" the former order of materials has been altered in accordance
with the advice of the teachers who have had longest experience
with the use of the book ; the old material has been thoroughly
revised; and much new material has been added. Since most
people prefer to begin a story at its beginning, and not with the
career of its author and his genealogy, I have reserved the history
of the myths for the conclusion of the text. Some of the myths
have been restated in more careful form. Some short narratives,
before omitted, have been included. The sketches of the Iliad
and the Odyssey have been considerably expanded ; and an out-
line — which, I hope, will be deemed adequate — of Wagner's
version of the Ring of the Nibelung has been appended to the
account of Norse and German mythology. That version is, of
course, not English literature ; but it has come to be received as
the classic modem version of the story ; and the story is needed,
at some time or other, by every lover of music. Fresh examples
of the employment of myth in English verse have, where practi-
cable, been incorporated in the text; and some new references
will be found in the Commentary.
I have thoroughly revised the list of illustrative cuts, have in-
terpreted the more difficult of the ancient figures, and indicated
the sources. The pictures themselves are a decided improvement
upon those in the former edition. In the determination of sources
for reproduction, I have had the valuable assistance of Dr. E. von
Mach, the author of more than one well-known work on ancient
art ; and to him I am indebted, in addition, for the section on The
Classic Myths in Art, which is included in my Introduction. With
this new equipment the book should prove more useful to those
who here make their first acquaintance with ait, es^ecYsJJi^ \^^ "ssX
vi THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of the ancients^ as well as to those who have been in the habit
of using it as a guide to paintings and sculptures of mythological
subjects in foreign galleries.
Much of our best English poetry lies beyond the imaginative
reach of many readers because of their unfamiliarity with the
commonplaces of literary allusion, reference, and tradition. Of
such commonplaces few are more frequently recurrent than those
furnished by the literature of myth.
In view of this consideration, the Academic Council of the
University of California, some twenty years ago, introduced into its
requirements for entrance in English the subject of Classical My-
thology in its relation to English Literature, and recommended, as
a textbook for preparation, Bulfinch's ** Age of Fable." The ex-
perience of English and classical teachers in the schools of the state
attested the wisdom of the requirement ; but the demand for some
textbook adapted to the needs of the classroom made necessary
the preparation of this volume. For while ** The Age of Fable "
offered a tempting collection of Greek, Norse, and Oriental narra-
tives, it was designed neither as a schoolbook nor as a systematized
presentation and interpretation of the myths that have most influ-
enced English literature.
At the request of my publishers I undertook at that time such a
revision and rearrangement of the materials of " The Age of Fable "
as might adapt it to the purposes of teacher and pupil, and to the
taste of readers somewhat more advanced in years than those ad-
dressed by the original work or by the edition which bore the name
of the Reverend Edward Everett Hale. But after a year's work I
found that half my material for copy was new, and that the
remainder differed in many important respects from the book
upon which it was based. Consequently, while the obligation to
** The Age of Fable " was acknowledged in full, a different title
was selected for the resulting volume. For neither my publishers nor
I desired that the scholarship or the taste of Mr. Bulfinch should
be held accountable for liberties that were taken with his work.
PREFACE vii
In " The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art," Chap-
ters XXIII-XXVII, containing sketches of the Fall of Troy, the
Odyssey, the -^neid, and of certain Norse lays, are a revision of
corresponding chapters in " The Age of Fable." Chapters VII-
XX, and XXII, comprising Myths of the Greater Divinities of
Heaven, Earth, the Underworld, and the Waters, Myths of the
Lesser Divinities of the same regions. Myths of the Older Heroes
and Myths of the Younger Heroes, and the oudine of the Trojan
War, represent a total rearrangement and recomposition of the
original material, section by section, and frequendy paragraph by
paragraph, — such portions of ** The Age of Fable " as have been
retained being abridged or rewritten, and, in places too frequent to
enumerate, supplemented by new and necessary sentences, para-
graphs, and sections. The Introduction, the first six chapters (on
the Greek Myths of the Creation, and the attributes of Greek and
Roman divinities). Chapters XXI and XXVIII-XXXII (on the
Houses concerned in the Trojan War, the Saga of the Volsungs,
the Lay of the Nibelungs, Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, and on
the origin, elements, distribution, and preservation of myth), the
choice of poetic and artistic illustration, the footnotes referring to
sources, and the Commentary are wholly, or essentially, my own.
In fact, there is little but the scaffolding of ** The Age of Fable "
now remaining in the book.
Although in the Index of Mythological Subjects and their Sources
the more common myths of some other nations are briefly stated,
no myths save those known to the Greeks, Romans, Norsemen, or
Germans have been included in the body of the text. The scope of
selection has been thus confined for three reasons : first, the regard
for necessary limits ; second, the desirability of emphasizing only
such myths as have actually acclimated themselves in English-
speaking lands and have influenced the spirit, form, and habit of
English imaginative thought ; third, the necessity of excluding all
but the unquestionably classic. The term classic^ however, is, of
course, not restricted to the products of Greece and Rome ; nor
viii THE CLASSIC MYTHS
is it employed as s)nion}mious with Classical or as antithetical to
Romantic. From the extreme Classical to the extreme Romantic
is a far cry ; but as human life knows no divorce of necessity from
freedom, so genuine art knows neither an unrelieved Classical nor
an unrestrained Romantic. Classical and Romantic are relative
terms. The Classical and the Romantic of one generation may
merit equally to be the classics of the next. Therefore certain
Hellenic myths of romantic spirit or construction have been in-
cluded in this work, and certain Norse and German myths have
not been excluded. Whatever is admitted, is admitted as first-class :
first-class, because simple, spontaneous, and beautiful ; because ful-
filling the requirements of perennial freshness, of aesthetic potency,
and of ideal worth.
In the matter of illustrative English and American poems the
principle of selection has been that the verses shall translate a
myth from the classic original, or exemplify the poetic idealization
and embellishment of the subject, or suggest the spirit and mien
of ancient art. But in each case regard has been had to the aesthetic
value of the poem or the citation. In the search for suitable ex-
amples I have derived valuable assistance from Mr. E. C. Guild's
** Bibliography of Greek Mythology in English Poetry of the Nine-
teenth Century " (Bowdoin College, Library Bulletin No. I), The
student is also referred to A. E. Sawtelle*s ** Sources of Spenser's
Mythology," C. G. Osgood's *Xlassical Mythology of Milton," and
R. K. Root's " Classical Mythology in Shakespeare " (Holt, 1896,
19CX), and 1903, respectively).
In the Commentary four things have been attempted : first, an
explanation, under each section, of ordinary textual difficulties;
second, an unpretentious exposition of the myth or a brief state-
ment of the more evident interpretations advanced by philologists
or ethnologists ; third, an indication of certain additional poems
or verses that illustrate the myth ; fourth, special mention of such
masterpieces of ancient and modem sculpture and painting as may
serve to introduce the student or the general reader to a field of
PREFACE ix
aesthetic profit neglected by the great mass of our people. For the
poetic conception of most of the myths contained in Chapters
I— XXIV, we are indebted to the Greek imagination ; but since
this book is intended for students of English poetry, and since in
English poetry Latin names of mythological characters are much
more frequently employed than Greek, the Latin designations or
Latinized forms of Greek names have been, so far as possible, re-
tained ; and such variations as Jupiter, Jove — Proserpina, Proser-
pine, freely used. In the chapters, however, on the attributes of
the Greek gods, names exclusively Greek have been placed in
parentheses after the usual Roman equivalents, Latin appellations,
or designations common to both Greek and Roman usage. In the
transliteration of Greek names I have followed, also, the prevalent
practice of our poets, which is, generally speaking, the practice of the
Romans. The diphthong €t, for instance, is transliterated according
to the accepted English pronunciation, which in individual words
perpetuates the preference of the Latins for the e sound or the
i sound respectively. So ^ArffeiStj^; becomes Atrldes ; I(l)i/i^S€ia,
Iphimedia. But, on the other hand, KvOepeia becomes Cytherea ;
Jliyvcufe, Peneus; andMijSeia, Medea; while owing to purely popu-
lar English custom, such a name as 4>€tS/a9 has become, not Pheidias
nor even Phidias, but — PMdias, A few names of islands, towns,
persons, etc., that even in Latin retain their Greek forms, — such
as Delos, Naxos, Argos, Aglauros, Pandrosos, — have been trans-
ferred without modification. So also has Poseidon, because that is
the common English spelling. In short, the practice aimed at has
been not that of scientific uniformity, but of acknowledged poetic
usage. In the titles of the illustrative cuts, Greek names have been
used for works of Greek origin, Latin for the Roman.
For the benefit of readers who do not know the fundamental
rules for the pronunciation of Greek and Latin proper names in
English, a brief statement of rules is prefixed to the Index ; and
in the Index of Mythological Subjects and their Sources names
are not only accented, but, when necessary, diacriticaW^ TcvaxYe.^.
X THE CLASSIC MYTHS
In the preparation of the Text and Commentary more or less use
has been made of: Roscher's Ausfiihrliches Lexikon der grie-
chischen und r5mischen M)rthologie (Lieferungen 1-21, Teubner,
Leipzig); Preller's Griechische M)rthologie (2 Bde., Berlin, 1861);
Max Miiller's Chips from a German Workshop, Science of Religion
(London, 1873), Science of Language (7th ed., 2 vols., London,
1873), Oxford Essays (1856) ; Sir G. W. Cox*s Mythology of the
Ar3ran Nations (2 vols., London, 1878) ; Frazer's Golden Bough ;
W. Warde Fowler's Roman Festivals (lx)ndon, 1899); Welcker's
Griechische Gotterlehre ; Baumeister's Denkmaler des klassischen
Alterthums; Murray's Manual of Mythology (New York, 1880);
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and My-
thology; Duruy's Histories of Rome and Greece; Keightley's
Greek and Roman Mythology; Kelsey's Outline of Greek and
Roman Mythology (Boston, 1889); Horn's Geschichte der Literatur
des skandinavischen Nordens (Leipzig, 1880) ; Cleasby and
Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary; Liining's Die Edda (Zurich,
1859); Vigfussori and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale (2 vols.,
Oxford, 1883); Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie,
I Bd., 5 Lfg. (article Mythologies by E. Mogk) ; Grimm's Teu-
tonic Mythology (translated by Stallybrass, 3 vols.) ; Werner
Hahn's Das Nibelungenlied ; Lang's Myth, Ritual, and Religion
(2 vols., London, 1887), and Mythology (Encyc. Brit., Vol. 9);
Tylor's Anthropology (New York, 1881) and Primitive Culture
(2 vols.) ; J. W. Powell's Annual Reports of the Bureau of Eth-
nology (7 vols., beginning 1 879-1 880, Washington, D.C.) ; Keary's
Outlines of Primitive Belief; Fiske's M)rths and Myth-makers
(Boston) ; Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies ; W. P.
Johnston's The Origin of Myth; and of other works to which
due reference is made in the footnotes and Commentary. The
student is also referred to F. B. Jevons' edition of Plutarch's
Romane Questions, translated by Philemon Holland (London, 1892)
(introduction on Roman Mythology) ; and to C. G. Leland's Etruscan-
Roman Remains in Popular Tradition (London, 1892). The Maps,
PREFACE xi
furnished by Messrs. Ginn and Company from other of their pub-
lications, have, with the kind consent of the authors of those works,
in some instances been adapted by me to suit the present purpose.
The principal authorities used in the selection of the illus-
trations of this new edition are : Baumeister, Denkmaler des
klassischen Alterthums (3 vols., Munich, 1888); Furtwangler,
Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture (London, 1905) ; Ernest Gard-
ner, Ancient Athens (New York and London, 1902) ; Percy
Gardner, A Grammar of Greek Art (New York and London,
1905) ; and Sculptured Tombs of Hellas (London, 1896) ; Percy
Gardner and Jevons, A Manual of Greek Antiquities (London,
1895); Gerhard, Auserlesenegriechische Vasenbilder(i 840-1 858) ;
Gusman, Pompei (London, 1900) ; Harrison, and Maccoll, Greek
Vase Paintings (London, 1894); E. von Mach, Handbook of
Greek and Roman Sculpture (Boston, 1905) ; and Greek Sculp-
ture, Its Spirit and Principles (Boston, 1903) ; A. S. Murray,
Handbook of Greek Archaeology (London, 1 892) ; History of
Greek Sculpture (2 vols., London, 1883) ; and Sculptures of the
Parthenon (London, 1903) ; A. S. Murray and C. A. Hutton,
Greek Bronzes and Terra Cotta Statuettes (London, 1898) ; C. O.
Miiller, Denkmaler der alten Kunst (Gottingen, 1832) ; Overbeck,
Griechische Kunstmythologie (1871 ); Emil Presuhn, Pompeji,
1 874-1 88 1 (Leipzig, 1882); Salomon Reinach, Peintures de
vases antiques (including the collections of Millin, 1808, and
Millingen, 18 13 (Paris, 1891)), and Apollo (Paris, 1907); H.
Roux Ain6, Herculaneum and Pompei ; Roscher, Ausfiihrliches
Lexikon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie (1884 )
(Lieferungen 1-17 in Vol. I, 18 on in Vol. H) ; Anton Springer,
Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte (I AltertAum, Leipzig, 1904) ;
Charles Waldstein, The Argive Heraeum (2 vols.) ; and the archae-
ological periodicals as cited in the List of Illustrations.
The acknowledgment of assistance made in the former edition
is here renewed.
CHARLES MILLS GA.YLE.X
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION j . . xxix
PART I
MYTHS OF DIVINITIES AND HEROES
CHAPTER I. GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION . . i
Purpose of the Study. The Fable and the Myth. Origin of the World.
Origin of the Gods. The Rule of Cronus. The War of the Titans. The
Division of Empire. The Reign of Jupiter. The Origin of Man. Pro-
metheus, a Creator. The Age of Gold. The Silver Age. Prometheus,
Champion of Man. Pandora. Prometheus Bound. Longfellow's Pro-
metheus. The Brazen Age. The Iron Age. The Flood. Deucalion and
Pyrrha. The Demigods and Heroes.
CHAPTER II. THE GODS OF HEAVEN . . . . i8
Olympus. The Great Gods. Jupiter (Zeus). Conceptions of Jupiter. Juno
(Hera). Minerva (Athene or Athena). Mars (Ares). Vulcan (Hephaestus).
Apollo. Shelley's Hjrmn of Apollo. Diana (Artemis). Jonson's Hymn to
Cynthia. Venus (Aphrocljje). The " Venus of Milo." Mercury (Hermes).
Vesta (Hesda). The Lesser Divinities of Heaven.
CHAPTER III. THE GODS OF EARTH .... 42
Conception of the World. Ceres (Demeter). Gaea (Ge). Bacchus (Di-
onysus). The Lesser Divinities of Earth.
CHAPTER IV. THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD . 47
The Underworld. Tartarus and the Elysian Fields. The Islands of the
Blest. Pluto (Hades). Proserpina (Persephone). The Lesser Divinities
of the Underworld.
CHAPTER V. THE GODS OF THE WATERS ^ ^ • 55
The Older Dynasty. The Younger Dynasty. The Lesser Divinities of the
Waters.
xui
XIV THE CLASSIC MYTHS
FA6B
CHAPTER VI. THE ROMAN DIVINITIES .... 59
Gods Common to Greece and Italy. Italian Gods.
CHAPTER VII. MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF
HEAVEN 64
Myths of Jupiter and Juno. Love Affairs of Jupiter. lo. Callisto. Europa.
Semele. iEgina. Antiope. Jupiter, a Friend of Man.\ Juno*s Best Gift.
Myths of Minerva. Arachne. Myths of Mars. Mars and Diomede. Mars
and Minerva. The Fortunes of Cadmus. Myths of Vulcan. Myths of
Apollo. The Wanderings of Latona. Apollo, the Light Triumphant.
Hyacinthus. PhaSthon. The Plague sent upon the Greeks before Troy.
The Punishment of Niobe. The Lamentation for Linus. iEsculapius.
Apollo in Exile. LowelPs Shepherd of King Admetus. Admetus and
Alcestis. Apollo, the Musician. Apollo, Pan, and Midas. Shelley's H3nnn
of Pan. Marsyas. The Loves of Apollo. Daphne. Marpessa. Clytie.
Myths of Diana. The Flight of Arethusa. Shelley's Arethusa. The Fate
of Actaeon. The Fortunes and Death of Orion. The Pleiads. £nd3rmion.
Myths of Venus. Adonis. Cupid and Psyche. Keats* Ode to Psyche.
Atalanta's Race. Hero and Leander. Pygrmalion and the Statue. Pyramus
and Thisbe. Phaon. The Vengeance of Venus. Myths of Mercury.
CHAPTER VIII. MYTHS ' OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES
OF EARTH 152
Myths of Bacchus. The Wanderings of Bacchus. The Story of Acetes.
The Choice of King Midas.
CHAPTER IX. FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDER-
WOJlLD 159
Myths of Ceres, Pluto, and Proserpine. The Rape of Proserpine. The
Wanderings of Ceres. Triptolemus and the ^plleusinian Mysteries. Orpheus
and Eurydice.
CHAPTER X. MYTHS OF NEPTUNE, RULER OF THE
WATERS 169
Lord of the Sea. Lord of Streams and Fountains. Pelops and Hippodamia.
CHAPTER XI. MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF
HEAVEN 172
Myths of Stars and Winds. Cephalus and Procris. Dobson*s The Death
of Procris. Ceyx and Halcyone. Aurora and Tithonus. Tennyson's Titho-
nus. Memnon.
CONTENTS XV
CHAPTER XII. MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF '"^^^
EARTH, ETC i8i
Pan, and the Personification of Nature. Stedman*s Pan in Wall Street.
Other Lesser Gods of Earth. Echo and Narcissus. Echo, Pan, Lyde, and
the Sat)rr. The Naiads. The Dryads, or Hamadryads. Erysichthon. Dry-
ope. Rhoecus. Pomona and Vertumnus. The Cranes of Ibycus.
CHAPTER XIII. MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE
WATERS 198
Galatea and Polyphemus. Glaucus and Scylla. Nisus and Scylla. Leu^
cothea. Proteus and Aristaeus. AcheloUs and Hercules. Milton's Sabrina
Fair.
CHAPTER XIV. MYTHS OF THE OLDER HEROES : THE
HOUSE OF DANAUS, AND ITS CONNECTIONS . . 206
The Older and the Younger Heroes. The Genealogy of Danaus. The
Danai'ds. The Doom of King Acrisius. Perseus and Medusa. Perseus and
Atlas. Perseus and Andromeda. Bellerophon and the Chimaera. Hercules
(Heracles) : His Youth. His Labors. His Later Exploits. The Loss of
Hylas. The Rescue of Daphnis. The Expedition against Laomedon. The
Death of Hercules.
CHAPTER XV. THE FAMILY OF .COLUS . . . . 229
Descendants of Deucalion. The Quest of the Golden Fleece. The Return
of the Argonauts. Medea and JEson. Pelias.
CHAPTER XVI. THE FAMILY OF .CTOLUS AND ITS
CONNECTIONS 237
The Calydonian Hunt Merope. Castor and Pollux. The Twin Brethren
among the Romans.
CHAPTER XVII. THE HOUSE OF MINOS .... 246
Minos of Crete. Daedalus and Icarus.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICH-
THONIUS 249
From Cecrops to Philomela. Matthew Arnold's Philomela. Theseus.
Theseus and Ariadne. Bacchus and Ariadne. The Amazons. Theseus
and Pirithoiis. Phaedra and Hippol3rtus.
I
xvi THE CLASSIC MYTHS
PAGB
CHAPTER XIX. THE HOUSE OF LABDACUS . . .261
The Misfortunes of Thebes. CEdipus and the Sphinx. CEdipus, the King.
CEdipus at Colonus.
CHAPTER XX. MYTHS OF THE YOUNGER HEROES : THE
SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 265
Their Exploits. The Seven against Thebes. Antigone. The Epigoni.
CHAPTER XXI. HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN
WAR 269
Three Families. Peleus. Achilles, Son of Peleus. Atreus. Tyndareus.
CHAPTER XXII. THE TROJAN WAR 277
Its Origin. Iphigenia in Aulis. Protesilaiis and Laodamia. Homer's Iliad.
The Wrath of Achilles. The Enlistment of the Gods. Thetis intercedes
for Achilles. Agamemnon calls a Council. Paris plays the Champion.
Helen surveys the Grecian Host. Menelaiis defeats Paris. The Two Days*
Battle. Hector and Andromache. Neptune aids the Discouraged Greeks.
Jupiter inspirits the Trojans. Achilles and Patroclus. Patroclus in the
Armor of Achilles. The Deaths of Sarpedon and Patroclus. The Remorse
of Achilles. The Reconciliation of Agamemnon and Achilles. The Death of
Hector. Achilles drags the Body of Hector. Priam in the Tent of Achilles.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE FALL OF TROY .... 307
The Fall of Troy. The Death of Achilles. Contest for the Arms of Achilles.
Paris and CEnone. The Palladium. The Wooden Horse. Laocoon and the
Serpents. The Death of Priam. The Survivors. Helen, Menelaiis, and
Agamemnon. Electra and Orestes. Orestes pursued by the Furies. His
Purification.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES . 318
From Troy to Phaeacia. The Lotos-eaters. The Cyclopes. The Bag of
Winds. The Laestrygonians. The Isle of iEaea. Ulysses visits Hades.
The Sirens. Scylla and Charybdis. The Cattle of the Sun. Calypso's
Island. The Land of the Phaeacians. Fate of the Suitors. Tennyson's
Ulysses.
CHAPTER XXV. ADVENTURES OF .ENEAS . .346
From Troy to Italy. The Departure from Troy. The Promised Empire.
The Harpies. Epirus. The Cyclopes Again. The Resentment of Juno.
The Sojourn at Carthage. Dido. Palinurus. Italy at Last. The Sibyl of
Cumae. The Infernal Regions. The Elysian Fields. The Valley of Oblivion.
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER XXVI. THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND ^^^^
LATINS 362
The Fulfillment of Prophecy. The Gates of Janus Opened. Camilla. Alli-
ance with Evander. The Site of Future Rome. Tumus attacks the Trojan
Camp. Nisus and Euryalus. The Death of Mezentius. The Deaths of
Pallas and Camilla. The Final Conflict.
CHAPTER XXVII. MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS . . 373
The Creation. Yggdrasil. Odin and his Valhalla. The Valkjrries. Thor
and the Other Gods. Lpki and his Progeny. The Conflict with the Moun-
tain Giants. The Recovery of Thor*s Hammer. Thor*s Visit to Jotunheim.
The Sword of Freyr. The Death of Balder. The Funeral of Balder. The
Elves. Ragnarok.
CHAPTER XXVIII. MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GER-
MAN HEROES 398
The Saga of the Volsungs. The Lay of the Nibelungs.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG . . 410
Wagner's Tetralogy. The Rhine-gold. The Valkyrie. Siegfried. The
Twilight of the Gods.
PART II
THE HISTORY OF MYTH
CHAPTER XXX. THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 431
Kinds of Myth. Divisions of Inquiry. Elements of the Myth. Reasonable
Myths. Unreasonable Myths. Theory of Deterioration. Theory of Progress.
CHAPTER XXXI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS . . 447
Theories of Resemblance.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS . 450
Traditional History. In Greece. Roman Poets of Mythology. Records of
Norse Mythology. Records of German Mythology. Records of Oriental
Mythology: Egyptian. Indian Records. Persian Records.
COMMENTARY 465
RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION 54i
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS AND SOURCES . 543
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS . . .582
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
7IGURS PAGE
1. Jupiter surveying the World. Roman Wall Painting, Naples: Hercu-
laneum and PompHu by H, Roux Aini 3
2. Athena and Giant Greek Bronze, Mus. Kircherianum : Journal of
Hellenic Studies^ 4^90 7
3. Zeus and Giants. Ancient Gem : Baumeisier j^ lygi 8
4. Prometheus making Man. Roman Sarcophagus in the Capitoline : Bau-
meisterSt ^S^ 9
Upper row, from left to right : Oceanus, the Sun-god, Clotho, Lachesis, etc.
Lower row: Cupid and Psyche, Gsea (Tellus), Prometheus, the newly created
Man to whom Minerva gives life (the butterfly). Death, Cupid with down-
turned torch, the first man dead, Atropos, Mercury.
5. Poseidon (Neptune), Dionysus (Bacchus) and Goddess. East Frieze,
Parthenon, in the British Museum : Photograph 17
6. Two Hours. Greek Vase Painting* St. Petersburg: Roscher i^ ^7^7 . . 18
7. Zeus from Dodona. Greek Bronze : Photograph 20
8. Zeus after Phidias. Coin of Elis : A. S. Murray, Greek Bronzes, opp,p. 81 21
9. Hera of Argos. Greek Marble : Argive Herceum, i 22
ID. Athena Velletri. Ancient Marble in the Louvre : Photograph .... 23
11. Ares Ludovisi. Ancient Marble in Rome : Photograph 24
12. Ares (Mars). Painting by Raphael : Photograph 25
13. The Forge of Vulcan. Roman Relief : Baumeister j, 1640 25
14. Apollo (so-called Adonis). Ancient Marble in the Vatican: Photograph 26
1 5. Apollo Belvedere. Ancient Marble in the Vatican : Photograph ... 27
16. Apollo. Greek Bronze from Thessaly, British Museum : Murray, Greek
Bronzes, Fig» 28 28
17. Diana. Painting by Correggio : Photograph 29
18. Diana (Artemis) of Versailles. Ancient Marble in the Louvre : Photograph 30
19. Artemis Knagia. Ancient Silver Medallion from Herculaneum: Po-
scher 1,^66 31
20. Hermes Psychopompos. Greek Stele of Myrrhina : P. Gardner, Sculp-
tured Tombs, Fig, y2 34
Hermes (Mercury) leading to the underworld the spirit of a lady, Myrrhina,
who has just died. From a relief on her tomb.
21. Bros (Cupid). Ancient Marble, Naples : Photograph 36
22. Rape of Ganymede. Ancient Marble in the Vatican : Baumeister 2, 8gi 37
23. Polyhymnia. Ancient Marble, Berlin : Baumeister 2^ iz8$ "^
XX THE CLASSIC MYTHS
FIGURE PAGE
24. The Three Fates. Painting attributed to Michelangelo, but recently con-
jectured to be by Rosso Fiorentino. Florence : Photograph .... 38
25. Boreas. Greek Reliefs, Athens : Baumeisterj, 2j'/o 39
26. Zephyros. Greek Reliefs, Athens : Baumeister 3^ ^370 39
27. Boreas carrying off Orithyia. Greek Vase Painting, Munich : Baumeister 7,
373 40
28. Iris carrying Child. Vase Painting: Gerhard^ Auserlesene Vasenbilder^ 2^83 41
29. Demeter of Knidos. Greek Marble in the British Museum : E. von Mach,
Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture^ Plate 247 42
30. Ceres. Roman Wall Painting : /. Weir., Greek Paintings p. 343 .... 43
31. Dionysus and the Vine. Ancient Marble in the British Museum: Ro-
scher /, 2g2 44
32. Pan the Hunter. Ancient Terra Cotta : Murray and Hutton, Plate VI . 45
33. A Satyr with Grafting Materials. Ancient Gem: Ptne*s Virgil .... 46
34. The Greek Underworld. Ancient Vase Painting from Canusium : Bau-
meister j, 2042 B 48
Center: Hades and Persephone. Above, left: Megara, wife of Heracles,
and two of her children, slain by Heracles when mad. Above, right : a Fury
guarding Pirithoiis and Theseus. Middle, left : Orpheus playing and dancing,
and an unknown family group. Middle, right : the three judges of the dead.
Below : Sisyphus, a Fury, Hermes, Heracles with Cerberus, a Fury, Tantalus.
35. Hermes conducting a Soul to Charon. Ancient Terra Cotta : Archdolo-
gische Zeitungy Berlin 49
36. Hypnos {Somnus^ Sleep). Murray ^ Greek Bronzes^ opp. p. 72 50
37. A Fury. Ancient Vase Painting : Roscher i, 1JJ4 51
38. Hades. Ancient Marble in the Villa Borghese, Rome : Baumeister /, 6go 53
39. Death, Sleep, and Hermes laying a Body in the Tomb. Ancient Vase
Painting : P. Gardner^ Sculptured Tombs^ Fig. 5 54
40. Poseidon from Dodona. Greek Bronze in the British Museum : Murray^
Greek Bronzes^ Fig. J2 55
41. Wedding of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Ancient Marble Frieze, Munich:
Baumeister jy 1744 B 56
42. Triton carrying off a Nymph. Ancient Marble in the Vatican : Bau-
meister j, ig64 57
43. Bearded Janus. Roman Coin : Baumeister 2, 1166 A 60
44. Genius Loci. Wall Painting from Herculaneum in the Naples Museum :
Gusman^ Pompeii p. 107 62
45. Ganymede feeding the Eagle. Ancient Relief: Pietro Santi Bartoli^
Gli. Antichi Sepolcri 64
46. Hermes (Mercury) kills Argus in presence of Zeus. Ancient Vase Paint-
ing : Roscher 2^ 2yg 65
47. lo, Argus, and Mercury. Wall Painting from Herculaneum in the Naples
Museum : Baumeister /, 802 66
48. Europa on the Bull. Greek Vase Painting : Harrison- M<k<:qUx Piatt JV 69
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxi
PIGURB PAGE
49. Nereids on Sea Beasts. Ancient Marble Frieze in Munich : Baumeister
3, 1744 A 70
50. Youthful Bacchus embracing Semele in presence of Apollo and a Satyr.
Etruscan Mirror, Berlin : Baumeister 7, 33*7 71
51. Amphlpn and Zethus. Ancient Relief in the Palazzo Spada, Rome:
Rascher 2^ 311 76
52. Contest of Athena and Poseidon for the Supremacy of Athens. Ancient
Vase Painting, St Petersburg : Baumeister 3, 1342 83
53. Athena. Ancient Marble in Hope Collection : Furtwangler^ Masterpieces^
Fig. 27 85
54. Cadmus slaying the Dragon. Ancient Vase Painting, Naples: Bau-
meister 2^ 822 87
Athena counseling. Above: river-god Ismenos, fountain-nymph Krene,
and personification of Thebes.
55. Harmonia in Company of Deities. Greek Vase Painting: Epkemeris,
18^7-18^8, Plate X 89
Aphrodite, Eros, Harmonia standing, Peitho (Persuasion) sitting, and Kore,
Hebe, Himeros (Desire).
56. The Forge of Vulcan. Painting by Velasquez : Photograph 90
57. A Sacrifice to Apollo. Greek Vase Painting : Gardner-Jevons Manualy
p, 24gy Fig. 16 91
58. Apollo with Hyacinthus. Ancient Marble in Hope Collection : Roscher
16-17,2763 93
59. The Fall of Phaethon. Roman Relief in the Louvre : Baumeister 3, i^^g 97
Upper left-hand comer: Phaethon making his request of Helios (Phoebus).
Below : the Heliades turning into trees. Center : the maddened horses, one
chariot wheel, and Phaethon falling into the arms of Eridanus. The horsemen
left and right of the four horses are Castor and Pollux. Earth-gods, sea-gods,
and other figures.
60. A Son of Niobe. Ancient Marble in Florence : Baumeister 3, 1731 . . 100
61. The Children of Niobe. Ancient Relief, St. Petersburg: Baumeister 3,
1759 loi
62. Niobe and her Youngest Daughter. Ancient Marble, Florence : Bau-
meister 3., 1746 102
63. -^sculapius (Asklepios). Ancient Marble, Florence : Furtwdngler^ Master-
pieces^ Fig. 87 104
64. Admetus must Die. Wall painting from Herculaneum in Naples : Bau-
meister 1,33 • 106
65. Heracles. Ancient Marble in Lansdowne House : Photograph .... 108
66. The Palatine Apollo. Ancient Marble in Vatican : Baumeister i, 104 . . no
67. Daphne. Ancient Marble : Springer^ Kunstgeschichte, 1^336 113
68. Artemis (Diana). Ancient Marble, Dresden : Furtwangler^ Masterpieces^
P'3^S "7
69. Arethusa. Ancient Coin : Baumeister ^, 11 40 \V^
xxii THE CLASSIC MYTHS
FIGURE PAGE
70. A Young River-god. Ancient Bronze Head : Roscher 9, i48g ....119
71. Actaeon. Ancient Marble Relief : Baumeister 1^41 121
72. The Pleiades. Painting by Elihu Vedder : /%<7/<7^7w/^ .123
73. Endymion. Ancient Relief in the Capitoline, Rome : E, von Machy Hand-
book of Greek and Roman Sculpture y Plate ^06 124
74. The Death of Adonis. Ancient Marble in the Louvre: Baumeister ly ly 127
Right : Adonis leaves Venus. Center : he is wounded. Left : he is cared
for by Venus, Cupid, and attendants.
75. Psyche at the Couch of Cupid. Painting by Thumann: Photograph . . 130
76. Psyche and Cupid on Mount Olympus. Painting by Thumann : PhoUh
graph 136
77. Artemis of Gabii. Ancient Marble in the Louvre : E, von Mach^ Hand»
book of Greek and Roman Sculpture^ Plate 207 139
78. Atalanta's Race. Painting by Poynter : Photograph 140
79. Hero and Leander. Painting by Keller : Photograph 144
80. Thisbe. Painting by Edward Bume-Jones : Photograph 148
81. Hermes and Dog disguised as Pig. Ancient Vase Painting, Vienna :
Harrison-Maccolly Plate XXXIII a 151
8^2. Silenus taking "Dionysus (Bacchus) to School. Ancient Terra Cotta :
Murray and Hutton^ Fig, 36 152
83. Bearded Dionysus on Mule, attended by Satyr. Old Greek Terra Cotta
Relief: Baumeister i^ 481 153
84. Satyr and Maenad with Child Dionysus. Ancient Relief : Baumeister 2^
93^ 154
85. Dionysus at Sea. Greek Vase Painting in the Pinakothek» Munich:
Harrison- Maccolly Plate I 155
86. Bacchic Procession. Greek Vase Painting : Arch, Zeit, 1 56
87. Dionysus visiting a Poet Ancient Relief, Naples : Baumeister 3^ 184^ 1 57
88. Rape of Proserpina. Ancient Relief : Baumeister 1^461 ...... 159
89. Hades and Persephone. Ancient Terra Cotta : P, Gardner^ Sculptured
Tombs, Fig, 2g 161
90. Sacrifice to Demeter and Persephone. Greek Relief in Paris: Bau^
meister /, ^57 162
91. Triptolemus and the Eleusinian Deities. Greek Vase Painting: Bau-
meister 3, ig^8 164
Demeter behind the chariot and Persephone and the nymph Eleusis in front.
92. Demeter (Ceres), Triptolemife, and Proserpina. Greek Relief: Kvon
Machy Handbook of Greek and Roman Sculpture^ Plate I'jS .... 165
93. Orpheus and Eurydice. Painting by Lord Leighton : Photograph ... 166
94. Farewell of Orpheus and Eurydice (Mercury ready to lead her away).
Ancient Marble Relief in Villa Albani, Rome : Photograph .... 167
95. Isthmian Poseidon. Ancient Marble in Lateran: Springer^ Kunstge-
schichtCy ly Fig. 4g^ 169
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii
PIGUSX . PAGE
96. Pelops winning the Race; Hippodamia looking on. Ancient Vase
Painting: BaumeisUr 2^ ijg^ 171
97. Phosphor, Eos, and Helios (the Sun) rising from the Sea. Ancient Vase .
Painting: Gerhard^ Akademische Abhandlungen 172
98. Sun, rising, preceded by Dawn. Painting by Guido Reni: Photo-
graph 173
99. Sunrise; Eos (Dawn) pursuing Cephalus. Greek Vase Painting: P,
Gardner, Grammar of Greek Arty Fig, 'I J 174
The young stars descending ; to the left, the moon (Selene) riding over
tiie hills.
100. The God of Sleep. Ancient Relief : Baumeister i, '/'^o 176
10 1. The Death of Memnon (Aurora lifting his body). Greek Vase Painting
in the Louvre : Harrison-Maccolly Plate XVIII 180
102. Pan blowing his Pipe, Echo answering. Ancient Earthenware Lamp :
Baumeisier ij ^14 182
103. The Music Lesson (Pan teaching a Boy). Ancient Marble, Florence :
Baumeister ^, 1^4.0 184
104. Bacchic Dance (N3rmph and Satyrs). Ancient Relief: Baumeister 3 ^
1931 184
105. Silenus. From an ancient candelabrum in Munich: Baumeister 2 y 8gs 185
106. Satyr (Marble Faun). Ancient Marble in the Capitoline, Rome : Photo-
graph 186
107. Satyr swinging Maiden. Greek Vase Painting in Berlin : Harrison-Mac-
coll, Hate XXXII 186
108. Satyr drinking from Amphora. Ancient Vase Painting in Baltimore:
Harrison-Maccoll, Plate IX 187
109. Narcissus gazing at his Reflection. Wall Painting from Pompeii, Naples :
Baumeister 2, 1 213 188
110. A Rustic. Wall Painting from Herculaneum 195
111. A Rustic. Wall Painting from Herculaneum 196
112. Galatea and Polyphemus. Wall Painting in House of Germanicus,
Rome: Roscher g, j^8'/ 199
113. A Sea-god, perhaps Glaucus. Ancient Marble in Vatican: Baumeister
2y g8i • 200
114. Nereids and Sea Monsters. Ancient Relief: Baumeister 2 y 1216 . . . 204
115. The Danaids. Ancient Marble Relief in Vatican : Roscher 6y gji . . 207
116. Danae and Perseus and the Chest. Greek Vase Painting in St. Peters-
burg: /ramV<?»-il/ar<:<>//, /%?/<? A:Xr/r 208
117. Medusa Rondanini (Front View). Ancient Marble in Munich: Furt-
wdngler. Masterpieces, Fig. 6j 209
118. Medusa Rondanini (Profile). Ancient Marble in Munich: Furtwangler,
Masterpieces, Fig. 6j 209
119. Perseus. Marble by Cellini in Florence : Photograph 210
120. Perseus with the Head of Medusa. Ancient Vase Painting : Gerhard . 211
xxiv THE CLASSIC MYTHS
FIGURE PAGE
121. Perseus finds Andromeda. Ancient Vase Painting in Museum, Berlin :
Jahrbucli des D. Arck. Instituts XI {i8g6)<, Plate II 212
Right: Aphrodite holding wreath over Perseus? head. Left: Cepheus
seated, Hermes with his wand, and an iSthiopian inhabitant.
122. Bellerophon and Pegasus. Ancient Relief : Baumeister i^^iy , . . . 215
123. Heracles strangling the Nemean Lion. Greek Vase Painting in British
Museum: Baumeister i^ '^22 217
Left : lolaiis and the local nymph Nemea. Right : Athena and Hermes.
124. Heracles killing the Hydra (behind him Athena and lolaiis). Greek
Vase Painting: Baumeisier j^ '^24 217
125. Heracles bringing Home the Boar (Eurystheus hiding in a wine jar).
Qx^^\iN2iS^Y2Sxi\\xi%\ Harrison-Maccolly Plate XII 218
1 26. Heracles with the Bull : Metope of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia :
Baumeister 2y 128^ 219
127. Heracles and Cerberus. Greek Vase Painting : Baumeister i y "130 . . 220
Left : Athena and Hermes. Right : Goddess of the Underworld.
128. Heracles and Antaeus. Greek Vase Painting in Athens : Harrison- Mac-
coll, Plate XXIV 221
129. Hercules and Nessus (Dejanira in Chariot). Wall Painting from Pom-
peii : Baumeister 7, y^^ 226
130. The Building of the Argo, Athene directing. Ancient Terra Cotta
Relief in the British Museum : Baumeister /, i2'i 229
131. Jason conquers the Bulls and steals the Fleece. Ancient Relief in
Vienna: Baumeister 2, gSi 231
Center : iSetes seated. Right : Medea assists her lover.
132. Medea deliberating upon the Murder of her Children. Wall Painting
from Herculaneum : Baumeister 2, g^S 234
133. Medea and Daughters of Pelias preparing the Caldron. Ancient
Marble Relief, Berlin: Photograph 235
134. Meleager on the Boar Hunt. Roman Relief : ^a«/«m/^r -?, 990 . . . 238
Atalanta appears twice, — as before the hunt to the left of the central figures,
as during the hunt in front of Meleager, and shooting an arrow into the boar.
135. The Death of Meleager. Roman Sarcophagus in the Louvre: Bau-
meister 2y 997 241
Right : the contest between Meleager and his uncles. Left : Althaea put-
ting the fateful brand into the fire ; behind her a Fury whose torch has lighted
the fire. Center : the dying Meleager, and Atalanta seated mourning.
136. 137- Castor and Pollux capturing the Giant Talus. Ancient Vase Paint-
ing : Baumeister ^y 1804 244, 245
Pollux on foot in front of Medea. Seated Deities on right, Poseidon and
Amphitrite.
138. Daedalus and Icarus. Ancient Relief in the Villa Albani, Rome:
Roschei 6, gj4 > 247
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxv
FIGURE PAGE
139. So-called Theseus. Greek Marble in the Parthenon : Baumeister 2^
'370 249
140. i^thra caresses Theseus and sends him forth with his Father's Sword.
Greek Vase Painting, St. Petersburg : Harrison-Maccoll^ Plate XXII 251
141. Theseus receiving Thanks from the Rescued after killing the Minotaur.
Campanian Wall Painting in Naples : ^wfwwj/'^r J, /<S76 .... 252
142. The Sleeping Ariadne. Ancient Marble in Vatican : Baumeister /,
130 254
143. Head of Dionysus. Ancient Marble, Leyden : Roscher 7, 1128 . . . 256
144. The Revels of Bacchus and Ariadne. Roman Sarcophagus : Baumeister
'^49^ ' 257
Laige figures from left to right : Priest, Satyr, Maenad, Mercury, Bacchus
and Ariadne seated. Satyr, Maenad, priest. Small figures : Desire (Himeros)
and Love leading Pan captive, followed by Silenus.
145. Lapith and Centaur fighting. Greek Metope from the Parthenon,
British Museum : Photograph 259
146. CEdipus and the Sphinx. Greek Vase Painting: P, Gardner^ Gram-
mar of Greek Art, Fig. yo 261
147. Eteocles and Polynices kill each other. Etruscan Relief, Florence :
Baumeister Sy 1S4J 266
148. The Gods bring Wedding Gifts. Ancient Relief from the Villa Albani,
Rome : Baumeister 7, 759 271
From right to left, married couple, Vulcan, Minerva, the four seasons
(Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) Hymen with torch, Comus, Amor push-
ing jealous deit/ away.
149. Map of the Troad and the Hellespont 273
150. Helen persuaded by Aphrodite; Paris (Alexander) held by Love.
Ancient Relief in Naples : E. von Machy Handbooky Plate 312 . . . 277
151. Achilles taken from Scyros by Ulysses (to the right) and Diomedes (to
the left). Pompeian Wall Painting, Naples : Roscher 1,2^ . . . . 279
152. The Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Pompeian Wall Painting, Naples: Bau-
meister i, 8oy 281
1 53. The Surrender of Briseis. Relief by Thorwaldsen : Photograph . . . 284
154. Hector's Farewell. Relief by Thorwaldsen : Photograph 291
155. 156. The Embassy to Achilles. Greek Vase Painting: P. Gardner^
Grammar of Greek Arty Fig, "12 294,295
Left section : Briseis is led away. Right section : Ajax and Ulysses, lean-
ing on staff, plead with Achilles ; at the right, Phoenix.
157. The Battle by the Ships. Greek Vase Painting : Baumeister ly ySj . . 296
Perhaps the moment when Ajax retreats. Hector presses upon him followed
by a youdi with a torch. At the extreme right, Paris drawing a bow.
158. Supposed Menelaiis with the Body of Patroclus. Ancient Marble,
Florence : Baumeister if y8j "^^
xxvi THE CLASSIC MYTHS
FIGURE PAGE
1 59. Contest of Achilles and Hector. Ancient Vase Painting : Baumeister /,
788 302
Left: Athene. Right: Apollo.
160. Achilles over the Body of Hector at the Tomb of Patroclus (whose
shade is running above the tomb). Greek Vase Painting : P, Gardner^
Sculptured Tombsy Fig, 4.0 303
161. Priam's Visit to Achilles (under whose couch lies the body of Hector).
Greek Vase Painting : Baumeister /, 79/ 304
Achilles has been taking his dinner. Servants bear gifts behind Priam.
162. Achilles and the Amazon Penthesilea. Greek Vase Painting: Bau-
meister^^ 2I2J 307
163. CEnone warning Paris not to sail for Greece. Ancient Relief in the
Villa Ludovisi, Rome : Baumeister 2^ ij6o 309
164. The Wooden Horse. Ancient Gem: Baumeister i^ yg^. 310
1651 166. The Sack of Troy. Greek Vase Painting, Naples: Baumeister i^
79S 312,313
Priam on altar, As^ranax on his lap, and Polites, whom Pyrrhus has just
killed, at his feet. Pyrrhus is about to strike Priam. Behind him rushes
Andromache to strike a kneeling soldier. Below, under the palm tree, sits
Hecuba facing the statue of Minerva (a Palladium) behind which Helen is
seen to cower. In front Cassandra clings to the statue, while Ajax, striding
over the body of her dead lover, tries to drag her away by the hair. To
the left, iCneas, with Anchises in his arms, and little Ascanius are hasten-
ing away.
167. Orestes and Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon. Greek Vase Paint-
ing: Baumeister J ^ jg^g 315
168. Orestes pursued by Furies. Greek Vase Painting: Baumeister 2 ^ Jjij 316
169. Orestes and Pylades before the King of the Tauri (Iphigenia as a
priestess on the steps of the temple). Wall Painting from Pompeii,
Naples: Springer, JCunstgeschichte, iy^2g 316
170. Ulysses offering the Cyclops Wine. Ancient Statuette in the Vatican:
Baumeister 2, 12^1 318
171. Boring out the Cyclops* Eye. From an Attic Vase : P. Gardner, Gram-
mar of Greek Art, p, 22^ 322
172. Ulysses and Two Companions under the Rams. Greek Vase Painting:
Harrison- Maccoll, Plate XXIX 323
173. The Castle of Circe. Sicilian Vase Painting: Baumeister 2, Sjg , . . 325
174. Ulysses and the Sirens. Greek Vase Painting in the British Museum:
P. Gardner, Grammar of Greek Art, p. 227, Fig, '78 329
175. Ulysses and Scylla. Etruscan Relief : Baumeister s, 1*^62 330
176. Penelope at the Loom, and Telemachus. Greek Vase Painting in Mu-
seum, Chiusi : Harrison-Maccoll, Plate XLI 339
177. Ulysses recognized by Euryclea (behind him Eumaeus). Ancient Terra
Cotta Relief: Baumeister 2, i2^y 341
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxvil
FIGURE PAGE
178, 179. Ulysses kills the Suitors. Greek Vase Painting, Berlin: BaumeisUr
' 3^2^39 342,343
It win be seen that the suitors are defending themselves.
180. The Nike (Victory) of Samothrace. Greek Statue in the Louvre : Von
Macky Greek Sculpture^ Plate facing p, 30 345
181. i¥lneaS| Anchises, and lulus. Ancient Gem, Uffizi, Florence .... 347
182. Scylla (carved end of ancient table). Chefs-tTCEuvres de PArt Antique,
Paris, 1867 349
183. The Cumaean Sibyl. Painting by Michelangelo in the Vatican: Photo-
graph 353
184. Ixion on the wheel. Ancient Vase Painting, Berlin: Baumeister 7,
Fig. 821 358
Below, right: Vulcan looking at his handiwork; a Fury and Hermes.
Above : winged forms, perhaps the Hours, to see that the motion is perpet-
ual. One is even now shoving the wheel ; the other has just taken ofif her
hand to point ^ your turn.''
185. Amazon. Ancient Marble Statue : Guhl and Koner 364
186. Valkyrie bearing a Hero to Valhalla. Painting by Dielitz: Photograph . 375
187. Loki and Siguna. Painting by Gebhardt : Photograph 393
188. Gunther and Brunhild. Fresco by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld:
Photograph 406
189. Siegfried and Kriemhild. Fresco by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld :
Photograph 407
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
PAGE
Lemnian Athena Frontispiece
Statue, possibly after Phidias, reconstructed by Furtwangler from torso in
Dresden and head in Bologna : Photograph,
Hera of the Vatican 22
Ancient Marble in the Vatican : Photograph,
Venus (Aphrodite) of Melos 32
Greek Marble in the Louvre : Photograph.
Greece in the Fifth Century b.c 64
The Famese Bull Group : Amphion, Zethus, Dirce, and Antiope ... 74
Ancient Marble in Naples : E. von Mach^ Handbook, Fig. 44,
Apollo and Daphne It2
Marble Group by Bernini, Villa Borghese, Rome : Photograph.
Aphrodite (Petworth Head) 1 26
Ancient Marble in London : Furtwangler, Masterpieces, Plate XVII.
Eros with Bow 136
Ancient Marble in the Capitoline Museum : Baumeister /, S39*
Hermes of Praxiteles 150
Greek Marble in Olympia : Photograph.
Perseus freeing Andromeda 212
Ancient Relief in the Capitoline Museum : Roscher 2, 346.
The Wedding of Hercules and Hebe 226
Ancient Apulian Vase Painting in Berlin : Baumeister /, "loo.
Amazon 306
Ancient Marble in Lansdowne House : Photograph.
Laoco5n 310
Greek Marble in the Vatican : Photograph.
The Outer Geography of the Odyssey 318
Flying Mercury 330
Statue by Giovanni di Bologna in Florence : Photograph.
Italy before the Growth of the Roman Empire 346
The Victory (Nike) of Brescia 372
Ancient Bronze Statue: E.von Mach,Greek Sculpture, Plate XXXV, No. 4.
xxviii
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY OF MYTHOLOGY IN CONNECTION WITH ENGLISH
POETRY AND WITH ART
Our American educational methods too frequently seek to pro-
duce the effect of polish upon a kind of sandstone information that
will not stand polishing. With such fatuity many of our teachers
in the secondary schools exercise their pupils in the study of Eng-
lish masterpieces and in the critical estimate of aesthetic qualities
before acquainting them with the commonplace facts and fables
that, ftansmitted through generations, are the material of much of
our poetry because the material of daily converse, imagination, and
thought. These commonplaces of tradition are to be found largely
in the literature of mythology. Of course the evil would be neither
so widespread nor so dangerous if more of the guardians and
instructors of our youth were at home even among the Greek and
Latin classics. But for various reasons, — some valid, as, for in-
stance, the importance of increased attention to the modem lan-
guages and the natural sciences ; others worthless, as the so-called
utilitarian protest against the cultivation of **dead" languages, —
for various reasons the study of the classics is at present consid-
erably impaired. It is, therefore, incumbent upon our universities
and schools, recognizing this fact and deploring it, to abate so far
as possible the unfortunate consequences that proceed therefrom,
until, by a readjustment of subjects of instruction and of the periods
allotted them, the Greek and Latin classics shall be reinstated in
their proper place as a means of discipline, a humanizing influence,
the historic background against which our present appears. For,
cut off from the intellectual and imaginative sources of Greece and
Rome, the state and statesmanship, legislation and law, society
and manners, philosophy, religion, literature, art, and even artistic
appreciation, run readily shallow and soon dry.
xxix
XXX THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Now, one evident means of tempering the consequence of this
neglect of the classics is the study of them through translations
and summaries. Such secondhand study must indeed be ever a
makeshift ; for the literature of a people inheres in its language,
and loses its seeming and often its characteristic when capari-
soned in the trappings of another speech, — an utterance totally
dissimilar, the outcome of diverse conditions of physical environ-
ment, history, social and intellectual tradition. But in dealing with
the purely imaginative products of antiquity, the inefficacy of trans-
lation may be somewhat offset if those products be reproduced, so
far as possible, not in the prosaic but in the poetic atmosphere
and in the imaginative garb of art. For though the phenomena of
plastic art are not the same in one continent as in another, or from
one century to the next, and though the fashion of poetry itself
varies from age to age and from clime to clime, the genesis of
imagination is universal, its products are akin, and its process is
continuous. For this reason the study of the imaginative thought
of the ancients through the artistic creations of the modems is
commended to students and readers as feasible and profitable.
The study of the classic myths stimulates to creative produc-
tion, prepares for the appreciation of poetry and other kinds of
art, and furnishes a clew to the spiritual development of the
race.
1 . Classic m)rthology has been for succeeding poetry, sculpture,
and painting, a treasure house replete with golden tales and glim-
mering thoughts, passions in the rough and smooth, and fancies
rich bejeweled. Like Virgil's Shadows that flit by the Lethean
stream until at beck of Fate they revisit upper day and the ever-
tranquil stars, these ghosts of ** far-off things and battles long ago,"
peopling the murmurous glades of m)rth, await the artist who shall
bestow on each his new and predetermined form and restore them,
purified and breathing of Elysian air, to the world of life and ever-
young mankind.
2. For the reader the study of mythology does, in this respect,
as much as for poet, sculptor, or painter. It assists him to thrid the
labyrinth of art, not merely with the clew of tradition, but with a
thread of surer knowledge whose surest strand is sympathy.
INTRODUCTION xxxi
The knowledge of m)rthic lore has led men m the past broadly
to appreciate the motives and conditions of ancient art and litera-
ture, and the uniform and ordered evolution of the aesthetic sense.
And, beside enriching us with heirlooms of fiction and pointing
us to the sources of imaginative joy from which early poets of
Hellenic verse, or Norse, or English, drank, the classic myths
quicken the imaginative and emotional faculties to-day, just as of
old. How many a man held by the sorrows of the Labdacidae or
the love of Alcestis, by some curious wonder in Pausanias, or some
woe in Hyginus, has waked to -the consciousness of artistic fancy
and creative force within himself ! How many, indifferent to the
well-known round, the trivial task, the nearest care of home, have
read the Farewell to Andromache and lived a new sympathy, an
unselfish thrill, a purified delight! And not only as an impulse
toward artistic output, or patriotic devotion, or domestic altruism,
but as a restraining influence, a chastener of aesthetic excess, a
moderator of the " unchartered freedom " that knows no mean
between idolatry and loathing, of the foolish frenzy that affects
new things, abnormal and sensational, in literature, music, and the
plastic arts, — as such a tutor and governor is the study of beauti-
ful m)rths invaluable. Long familiarity with the sweet simplicity,
the orderly restraint, the severe regard, the filial awe that pervade
the myths of Greece and Rome, — or with the newness of life and
fullness and wonder of it, the narvet6 and the romance, of Eddie
lore, — cannot but graciously temper our modem estimate of artistic
worth.
The study, when illustrated by masterpieces of literature and art,
should lead to the appreciation of concrete artistic productions of
both these kinds.
It goes without saying that a rational series of somewhat con-
secutive stories is more serviceable to the reader than a congeries of
data acquired by spasmodic consultation of the classical dictionary,
— a mass of information bolted, as it were, but by no means digested.
If, moreover, these stories are narrated in genealogical and real-
istic sequence and are illustrated by lyric, narrative, and descrip-
tive passages of modem literature, there is furnished not only that
material of allusion and reference for which the student nowadays
xxxii THE CLASSIC MYTHS
trusts to meager and disjointed textbook notes, but a potentiality
that should render the general reading of belles-lettres more profit-
able. For a previous acquaintance with the material of literary
tradition heightens the appreciation of each allusive passage as it
is encountered ; it enables the reader to sympathize with the mood
and to enter into the purpose of the poet, the essayist, the novelist,
the orator ; it expands the intellectual lungs for the atmosphere
breathed by the artist, at any rate for a literary and social atmos-
phere less asthmatic than that to which so many of us are uncon-
sciously habituated. Of course all this advantage would far better
result from the first-hand nutriment and discipline of the Greek
and Latin classics ; of course direct familiarity with the writers of
Greece and Rome is the sine qua non of level-headed criticism and-
broad evaluation of modem literature ; and, of course, a S3nnpathy
with the imaginings of old is the best incentive to an aesthetic esti-
mate not only of art but of nature to-day; but if our American
pupils and many of their teachers cannot quaff Massic and Faler-
nian, they do well to scent the bouquet. In time a sense of flavor
may perchance be stimulated, and ultimately a desire for nearer
acquaintance with the literatures that we inherit.
The study of these ancient tales serves, then, much more than
the purpose of special information. It refines the aesthetic judg-
ment in general, and heightens the enjoyment of such works of
literature as, not treating of mythical or classical subjects, still pos-
sess the characteristics of the classic : the unconscious simplicity,
the inevitable charm, and the noble ideality. The Lycidas, the
Adonais, the Thyrsis, the In Memoriam, the Ode to Duty, the
Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich, the H3nnn of Man, Love is Enough,
Prospice, Festus, the Ode of Life, the Dream of Gerontius, Lying
in the Grass, and Simmenthal must mean little to one devoid of
the spirit of classicism.
In respect of art a similar inspiration, aid, instruction, are afforded
by the study. This volume is liberally supplied with cuts of famous
paintings and sculptures of mythical subjects. Familiarity with
specimens of ancient art, even through the medium of photogra-
phy and engraving, must not only cultivate the historic sense but
stimulate the aesthetic. The cruder efforts of the ancients, no less
INTRODUCTION xxxiii
than the more refined, are windows through which we view the
ancient mind. The frequent contemplation of their nobler efforts
and of the modem masterpieces here reproduced may avail to lift
some from the level of apathy or provinciality in matters of imagi-
nation; some it may spur to a study of the originals, some to
artistic creation. A public which, from year to year, displays a
deeper interest in the art of foreign lands will despise no auxiliary
to a more intelligent appreciation of that art. A country whose
future in artistic achievement cannot be prophesied in a paragraph
will more and more truly recognize the value of a study that is an
introduction to much that is best in art as it exists.
3. Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that the myths of the
ancients, as the earliest literary crystallization of social order and
religious fear, record the incipient history of religious ideals and of
moral conduct. For though ethnologists may insist that to search
for truth in mythology is vain, the best of them will grant that to
search for truth through mythology is wise and profitable. If we
accept the statement (often stretched beyond its proper limit) that
mythology is primitive philosophy, and the other statement that an
ancient philosophy never dies, but by process of internal growth,
of modification, and of accretion acquires a purer spirit and a new
and higher form, — then, since truth was never yet conceived of
error (ex nihilo nihil fit), the truth now recognized, while it did
not exist in that fraction of myth which happens to be irrational,
qxisted as an archetypal impulse, — set the myth in motion, and, as
a process refining the mind of man, tended steadily to eliminate
from primitive philosophy (that is, from the myths that embodied
primitive philosophy) the savage, ephemeral, and irrational ele-
ment. For all myths spring from the universal and inalienable
desire to know, to enjoy, to teach. These impulses of knowledge,
of imaginative relaxation, of conduct, are the throbbing of the
heart of reason ; the first or the second is the primal pulse of every
myth, and to the life of every myth each impulse may be, at some
period, contributory. This study has led men to trace soberly the
progress of their kind from the twilight of gray conjecture to the
dawn of spiritual conviction and rational individuality ; to discern a
continuity of thought, an outward reach of imagination, an upward
xxxiv THE CLASSIC MYTHS
lift of moral and religious ideas ; to confess the brotherhood of
humanity and an inspiring purpose which holds good for every
race and through all time.
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
I . Of the Classic Myths in their Relation to Literature, It is
essential that the teacher of mythology, no matter what textbook
or system he uses or what classic epic he proposes to present,
should first* make himself acquainted with the meaning of myth,
its origin and elements ; the difference between myth and fable,
between myths explanatory and myths aesthetic, myths reasonable
and myths unreasonable, the theories of myth-making as a process
of deterioration or as a process of development. He should also
inform himself concerning the ways in which the leading myths
have been disseminated, and how the survivors have been pre-
served. Materials for this preparation he will find in Chapters
XXX-XXXII of this book as readily, perhaps, as elsewhere;
but no matter where he obtains this information he should in a
simple and interesting talk pass on the cream of it to the pupils
about to begin the study of the stories themselves. He will in that
way bring them to a reasonable appreciation of the value of m)rths
and their relation to our civilization, and awaken in them antici-
patory interest in the proposed reading. It is a great mistake to
plunge students of high-school age, without preliminary orienta:
tion and a justification of the study, into a world which may other-
wise appear to them unreasonable in conception and unrelated in
experience. Pupils may, if time permits, read these concluding
chapters, and so obtain a systematic outlook upon the subject,
during a brief review in the senior year, but not earlier.
This book should be studied for its materials and the inspiration
that it affords, — not word by word for its style, or as a dictionary
or scientific authority ; nor paragraph by paragraph with a painful
committing to memory of each myth and each episode in the myth.
Discrimination must be made. Some of these myths, and espe-
cially the episodes from the epics (Chapters XXII-XXIX), are
to be read rapidly and in large assignments, sometimes at home
r
INTRODUCTION xxxv
with reports in class, sometimes in class and at sight, but always
for the enjoyment. Others are to be studied in detail, but solely
when they are of special and vital significance, historically, morally,
or aesthetically. Emphasis should be laid only occasionally and
sparingly upon interpretations of mythical materials. What both
teacher and student should aim at is tJie picture — manners, morals,
ideals, heroic figures, epic events, broad and vivid against the can-
vas of antiquity : that, and the reality of classic order, grandeur,
and restraint.
The m)rths are here presented in a logical and genealogical
arrangement ; and they should be studied in this order, so that the
pupil may carry away, not a jumble of sporadic recollections, but
some conception of the systems of creative imagination which
obtained in earlier civilizations. The knowledge of the myths and
the proper perspective of their relation, one to another, may fur-
ther be fixed by the study of the family ties that motivate many
of the incidents of mythical adventure, and that must have been
commonplaces of information to the inventors and narrators of
these stories.
The myths may well be reproduced as exercises in narration,
comparison, description ; and they may be regarded as stimulus
for imaginative invention concerning local wonders and beauties
of nature. Pupils may also be encouraged to consider, and to
comment upon, the moral qualities of the heroes and heroines of
mythology. Thus they may be led to recognize the difference
between ancient and modem standards of right and wrong. To
this end, and for the supply of further nutriment, it is important
that teachers collect from their reading of the classic originals, or
from translations of the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Greek dramatists,
the JEneidy the Metamorphoses, etc., material supplementary to
the text, and give it freely to their classes. To facilitate this prac-
tice the sources of the myths have been indicated in the footnotes
of this volume, and a few of the best translations have been men-
tioned in the Commentary. Instructors should also read to the
classes illustrative English poems, or portions of them based upon
the myths under consideration ; and they should encourage the
pupils to collect from their English reading additional examples
xxxvi THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of the literary survival or adaptation of ancient stoiy. For this pur-
pose special sections of the Commentary have been prepared, indi-
cating some of the best known literary applications of each myth.
The Commentary is numbered in sections corresponding to those
of the text. The Textual Notes should be studied in connection
with each lesson, the Interpretative more sparingly, as I have said.
They should not be suffered to spoil the interest in the stories as
such. They are of interest in themselves only to maturer minds.
Allusions and interpretations which the younger pupil does not
appreciate will, if the book is used for purposes of reference in his
further English, Latin, or Greek studies, be clear before the end
of his course.
From the outset care should be taken that pupils give to the
classical names their proper accent, and that they anglicize both
vowels and consonants according to the recognized rules laid down
in the Latin grammars, the English dictionaries, and the pages
•preceding the Index of this book.
Mythological and classical geography should not be neglected.
The maps accompanying this volume will be serviceable ; but there
should be in the classroom one of Kiepert's maps of the World
as Known to the Ancients (Orbis Veteribus Notus), or maps of
Ancient Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. The teacher will find the
International Atlas (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York), A. Keith
Johnston's School and College Atlas of Ancient Geography, or the
new edition of the same by James Cranstoun, issued as Ginn and
Company's Classical Atlas, indispensable in the prosecution of
general reading.
When it i^ the intention to study, in connection with the book,
an Homeric epic or a portion of it, the teacher should first make
sure that the class has an adequate preliminary training in general
mythology (such, for instance, as may be provided by the first
twenty-one chapters); he should then outline rapidly and enter-
tainingly the epic as a whole, emphasizing its position in the lit-
erature of the world and its relation to the world of its own times,
before proceeding to read it in detail with the class. Excellent
suggestions as to this method of study are offered in the Intro-
duction to Maxwell & Chubb's Pope's Homer's Iliad, Books I, VI,
INTRODUCTION xxxvii
XXII, and XXIV (Longmans), and in the Introduction to the
Riverside Edition of the Odyssey : Ulysses among the Phaeacians
(Houghton Mifflin Company).
The more important myths and the best illustrative poems should
provide not only nutriment for thought, but material for memory.
Our youth in the push for hasty achievement bolt their meals ; they
masticate little, swallow everything, digest nothing, — and having
agonized, forget. If fewer things were dispatched, especially in the
study of literature, and if more were intrusted to the memory,
there would be something to assimilate and time to assimilate
it ; there would be less dyspepsia and more muscle. Teachers and
parents are overconsiderate, nowadays, of the memory in children :
they approach it gingerly ; they have feared so much to wring its
withers that in most children the memory has grown too soft for
saddling. In our apprehension lest pupils may turn out parrots, we
have too often turned them out loons. It is better that a few of
the facts in their heads be wrong than that no facts be there at
all. With all our study of children and our gabble about methods
of teaching them, while we insist, properly enough, that youth is
the seedtime of observation, we seem to have forgotten tiiat it is
also the harvest-time of memory. It is easy for children to remem-
ber what they learn, it is a delight for them to commit to memory ;
we act criminally when we send them forth with hardly a fact or a
date or a glorious verse in the memory of one out of ten of them.
Such, unfortunately, is the case in many of our schools ; and such
was not the case in the day of our fathers. Pupils should be
encouraged to recite memoriter the best poems and verses that
accompany the myths here given ; and they should not be allowed
to pass allusions already explained without recalling verses that
contain them.
But above all things should be cultivated, by means of this study,
the spiritual capabilities of our youth. Pabulum for thought, accu-
rate habits of memory, critical judgment, simplicity and directness
of oral and written expression, may all be furnished or developed by
other educative agencies ; but what stimulus to fancy, to poetic sen-
sitiveness and reflection, to a near kinship with the spirit of nature
humanized, can be found more cogent than the contemplation of
xxxviii THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the poetic traditions that abide in verse ? Mythology, fraught with
the fire of imagination, kindles the present from the past.
In this new world of ours, shall slopes and mountains, gorges,
caftons, flowery fields and forests, rivers, bays. Titanic lakes, and
shoreless reach of ocean be seen of eyes that lack insight, be known
of men for whom nature does not live ? Surely the age of myth is
not wholly past ; surely the beauties and the wonders of nature are
a fable of things never fully revealed ; surely this new republic of
ours, no less than her prototypes by Tyrrhenian and ^Egean seas,
utters, in her queenly form and flowing robes, a spirit, a truth, a
potential poetry, and a beauty of art, the grace of which we Ameri-
cans, with deeper imaginative training and sympathy and awe, may
yet more highly value and more clearly comprehend.
2. Of the Classic Myths in their Relation to Art} The illustra-
tion of a book on ancient mythology offers great difficulties, because
the modem reader expects one thing and the ancient artist, on whose
works one must rely, intentionally offers a very different thing. We
have grown to be a reading people, forming our ideas largely on
the written word, while in antiquity the spoken word opened the
door to understanding. A story which has been committed to writ-
ing is fixed for all time, having lost its power of growth ; whereas
a tale that passes from mouth to mouth, with no record by which
to check its accuracy in particulars, is free to expand. It changes
with the moods of those who tell it, and the intellectual and moral
standards of those who listen. People to-day are unimaginative and
literal. They also expect that the pictures which illustrate their
books shall follow the individual conceptions of the author closely.
When the story is dramatized a certain latitude is granted to the
actor; the artist, however, who illustrates the book has no such
freedom. He is expected to take precisely the author's view of a
fictitious character, and, consequently, his individuality may show
itself only in the technique. In antiquity there were no standard
books of fiction or of myths. When writing came into use with the
sixth century before Christ, the individual versions of this or that
great epic poem or drama were preserved ; but the great mass of
the people knew them, not because they had read the manuscripts,
1 See Preface.
INTRODUCTION xxxix
but because they had heard them acted or recited. Book illustra-
tions, therefore, were unknown. Yet so powerful was the impres-
sion which the myths made on the people that most of the artists
drew their inspiration from them. Artists and poets alike wished
to make real the powerful characters of Greek tradition. To make
a literally true illustration of any one version of a great myth was
not the aim of a classic artist.
Another difficulty is foimd in the fact that few ancient myths
continued to be equally interesting to the people all the time. It is
therefore necessary for us, in choosing illustrations, to draw on all
periods of ancient art, the crude beginning and the decline as well
as the brief span of fine art. The comparatively meager store of
genuinely classic works of art acts as one of the greatest obstacles
to the compilation of a continuous record of classic myths in classic
art. To give such a record, however, rather than to illustrate his
book, must be the aim of the author who publishes to-day a version
of ancient mythology together with such pictures or reliefs or statues
as are preserved. The modem reader of such a book should there-
fore appreciate this fact : he must make allowance for the gradual
development of ancient art. The picture is not there for the sake
of strengthening the written work, but for its own, sake. It often
offers an independent version of the myth which he reads, and at
all times may give him an insight into the mental make-up of the
classic people.
Sculpture was the finest art of the Greeks, if one may judge by
the remains. In this province the artists worked according to the
best principles of art, making their appeal directly to the nobler
side of man. Before an ancient statue one feels the power of an
idea immediately, and not by the circuitous route of remembering
a sequence of words which may have aimed to suggest a similar
idea. The Greeks were the least literal in their sculpture. Their
marbles, therefore, cannot yield illustrations which the modem
editor can use, except when they embody, like the Demeter of
Knidos (Fig. 29) or tfie Athena of Velletri (Fig. 10), a well-defined
character-conception. The modem reader, on the other hand, can-
not fail to notice that this conception never does justice to the
character of the goddess as it appears in all the myths, and very
xl THE CLASSIC MYTHS
rarely even to that characteristic which may dominate the particular
version of any one myth. If such pictures, however,' were entirely
omitted from the book, the best means of appreciating the essential
nobility of the Greek mind would be lost.
None of the Greek masterpieces of painting are extant. Their
attenuated influence, however, may be traced in the Italian wall
paintings from Pompeii and elsewhere. Painting permits greater
literalness than sculpture. The picture from Herculaneum, for
instance, — lo, Argus, and Mercury (Fig. 47), — tells a definite
story and one which is also told by the poets. But the painter
has considered the making of a pleasing picture first, and given
only a secondary thought to accuracy of tradition. This must be
so ; for while we may without displeasure listen to the descrip-
tion of a monster, we cannot see his actual representation without
discomfort. When we hear how the companions of Ulysses were
turned into swine, the tragic note is never lost. To paint this scene,
however, and not to border on the ridiculous or the burlesque is
given only to the greatest artist — if it is at all possible.
Fortunately for our purposes of illustration, there was a class of
secondary artists in Greece which did not always shrink from select-
ing subjects iU adapted for art, and from rendering them with
slight variations so that they are neither bad to look at nor altogether
untrue. These were the painters of vases. Some of them were
masters of their craft (cf. Fig. 1 16), others were of only mediocre
skill. All, however, like their nobler brethren, were primarily con-
cerned with the decorative and technical side of their art and but
secondarily with their subject. If the story, for instance, called for
four persons and their space for five, they unhesitatingly added the
fifth person, and, vice versa, removed one without compunction if
they had place for fewer figures than the story demanded. Being,
moreover, commercial people, they painted according to fashion.
Whatever version of a myth happened to be popular, that they
selected, so that it has been possible to trace by their vases the
changes which several myths underwent from the sixth century
onward.
A careful student notices the similarity of types in many of these
pictures and realizes that the ancient painter of vases started out
INTRODUCTION xli
with a certain stock-in-trade which he altered as Uttle as possible,
adding something new only where it was absolutely necessary.
From these observations it is clear that the works of men who
were least gifted artistically are the best adapted for the purposes
of book illustrations ; for a painter is literal in the inverse ratio of
his worth as artist. Nothing, therefore, could be less fair than to
judge Greek vase painting by the collection of pictures here offered.
Only paintings like Figures 85 and loi, for instance, can give a
hint of the best that these men produced.
Going gradually down the scale of artists one finally comes to
the level of the makers of Roman sarcophagi, in whose honor it can
only be said that to descend lower is impossible. Several myths,
however, — the story of the fall of Phaethon (Fig. 59), for instance,
— are not illustrated in art before the decadent period of imperial
Roman sculpture. It is therefore necessary to draw also upon this
source.
Of course unity of art or school or excellence cannot be pre-
served in a set of pictures which groups the Demeter of Knidos
(Fig. 29), the blinding of Polyphemus (Fig. 171), and the fall of
Phaethon (Fig. 59). But individually the pictures help to fix in
memory the particular stories that they are chosen to illustrate ;
and collectively they show how strongly the myths here retold in-
fluenced the noblest fancy of the great artists as well as the recep-
tive minds of mediocre artisans. The suggestive power of classic
myths, moreover, was not confined to antiquity. When learning and
culture returned to the world in the Renaissance, this power also
returned. Raphael (see Fig. 12) and Michelangelo (see Fig. 183)
were under its sway, and so are many modem artists (see Figs. 72
and 154). They did not all understand the classic spirit equally,
therefore some of their pictures are modem in ever3^hing save the
title, while others have caught the tmth with singular accuracy and
are modem only in technique. Adding these Italian and more recent
pictures to the collection further destroys mere unity, but it insures,
on the other hand, a full appreciation of the abiding and ennobling
power of ancient mythology.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
PART I
MYTHS OF DIVINITIES AND HEROES
CHAPTER I
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION
1. Purpose of the Study. Interwoven with the fabric of oui
English literature, of our epics, dramas, lyrics, and novels, of our
essays and orations, like a golden warp where the woof is only too
often of silver, are the myths of certain ancient nations. It is the
purpose of this work to relate some of these myths, and to illus-
trate the uses to which they have been put in English literature,
and, incidentally, in art.
2. The Fable and the Myth. Careful discrimination must be
made between the fable and the myth. A fable is a story, like that
of King Log, or the Fox and the Grapes, in which characters and
plot, neither pretending to reality nor demanding credence, are
fabricated confessedly as the vehicle of moral or didactic instruc-
tion. Dr. Johnson narrows still further the scope of the fable :
" It seems to be, in its genuine state, a narrative in which beings
irrationaly and sometimes inanimatey are, for the purpose of moral
instruction, feigned to act and speak with human interests and
passions." Myths, on the other hand, are stories of anonymous
origin, prevalent among primitive peoples and by them accepted
as true, concerning supernatural beings and events, or natural
beings and events influenced by supernatural agencies. Fables are
made by individuals ; they may be told in any stage of a nation's
history, — by a Jotham when the Israelites were still under the
Judges, 1 200 years before Christ, or by Christ himself in the
2 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
days of the most critical Jewish scholarship; by a Menenius
when Rome was still involved in petty squabbles of plebeians and
patricians, or by Phaedrus and Horace- in the Augustan age of
Roman imperialism and Roman letters;- by an ^sop, well-nigh
fabulous, to fabled fellow-slaves, anli. Athenian tyrants, or by La
Fontaine to the Grand Monaicc^ and the most highly civilized
race of seventeenth-centjiry Europe.
Fables 'are vessels, ii^kde to order into which a lesson may be
poured. M)^hS are*bA:n, not made. They are bom in the infancy
of a people., 'They owe their features not to any one historic indi-
vidual, buffQ'.the imaginative efforts of generations of story-tellers.
The myth of Pandora, the first woman, endowed by the immortals
with heavenly graces, and of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven
iBpr* the use of man ; the myth of the earthbom giants that in the
beginning contested with the gods the sovereignty of the universe ;
of the moon-goddess who, with her buskined nymphs, pursues the
chase apross the azure of the heavens, or descending to earth cher-
ishes the youth Endymion, — these myths, germinating in some
quaint and childish interpretation of natural events or in some fire-
side fancy, have put forth unconsciously, under the nurture of the
simple folk that conceived and tended them, luxuriant branches and
leaves of narrative, and blossoms of poetic comeliness and form.
The myths that we shall relate present wonderful accounts of the
creation, histories of numerous divine beings, adventures of heroes
in which magical and ghostly agencies play a part, and where
animals and inanimate nature don the attributes of men and gods.
Many of these myths treat of divinities once worshiped by the
Greeks and the Romans, and by our Norse and German fore-
fathers in the dark ages. M)^hs, more or less like these, may be
found in the literatures of nearly all nations ; many are in the
memories and mouths of savage races at this time existent. But
the stories here narrated are no longer believed by any one. The
so-called divinities of Olympus and of Asgard have not a single
worshiper among men. They dwell only in the realm of memory
and imagination ; they are enthroned in the palace of art.
The stories of Greek, Roman, Norse, and German mythology
that have most influenced our English literature will follow in the
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 3
order named. The Romans, being by nature a practical, not a
poetic, people, incorporated in their literature the mythology of
the Greeks. We shall, however, append to our description of the
Greek gods a brief account of the native Latin divinities that
retained an individuality in Roman literature.
3. Origin of the World.^ There were among the Greeks several
Accounts of the beginning of things. Homer tells us that River
Ocean, a deep and mighty flood, encircling land and sea like a
serpent with its tail in its mouth, was the source of all. Accord-
ing to other mj^s Night and Darkness were the prime elements
Fig. I. Ji
of Nature, and from them sprang Light. Still a third theoiy,
attributed to Orpheus, asserts that Time was in the beginning,
but had himself no be^nning ; that from him proceeded Chaos,
a yawning abyss wherein brooded Night and Mist and fiery air,
or .^ther ; that Time caused the mist to spin round the central
fiery £ur till the mass, assuming the form of a huge world egg,
flew, by reason of its rapid rotation, into halves. Of these, one
was Heaven, the other Earth. From the center of the egg pro-
ceeded Eros (Love) and other wondrous beings.
4 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
But the most consistent account of the origin of the worid and
of the gods is given by the poet Hesiod, who tells us that Chaos,
the yawning abyss, composed of Void, Mass, and Darkness in
confusion, preceded all things else. Next came into being broad-
bosomed Earth, and beautiful Love who should rule the hearts of
gods and men. But from Chaos itself issued Erebus,^ the mys-
terious darkness that is under Earth, — and Night, dwelling ift
the remote regions of sunset.
From Mother Earth proceeded first the starry vault of Heaven,
durable as brass or iron, where the gods were to take up their abode.
Earth brought forth next the mountains and fertile fields, the stony
plains, the sea, and the plants and animals that possess them.
4. Origin of the Gods. So far we have a history of the throes
and changes of the physical world; now begins the history of
gods and of men. For in the heart of creation Love begins to
stir, making of material things creatures male and female, and
bringing them together by instinctive affinity. First Erebus and
Night, the children of Chaos, are wedded, and from them spring
Light and Day ; then Urantis, the personified Heaven, takes G^a^
the Earth, to wife, and from their union issue Titans and hundred-
handed monsters and Cyclopes. • < i/ / .
The Titans'^ appear to be the personification of mighty con-
vulsions of the physical world, of volcanic eruptions and earth-
quakes. They played a quarrelsome part in mythical history;
they were instigators of hatred and strife. Homer mentions spe-
cially two of them, lapetus and Cronus ; but Hesiod enumerate^
thirteen. Of these, the more important are Oceanus and Tethys,
Hyperion and Thea, Cronus and Rhea, lapetus, Themis, and
Mnemosyne. The three Cyclopes represented the terrors of roll-
ing thunder, of the lightning-flash, and of the thunderbolt ; and,
probably, for this reason, one fiery eye was ^eemed enough for
each. The hundred-handed monsters, or Hecatonchires, were also
three in number. In them, probably, the Greeks imaged the sea
with its multitudinous waves, its roar, and its breakers that seem
to shake the earth. These lightning-eyed, these hundred-handed
1 So far as poMible, Latin designations, or Latinized forms of Greek names, are uMd«
s On the Titans, etc., PreUer'f Grioch. MythoL i, 37,
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 5
monsters, their father Uranus feared, and attempted to destroy by
thrustmg them into Tartarus, the profound abysm of the earth.
Whereupon pother Earth, or Gaegi indignant, called for help upon
her elder children, the Titans. None dared espouse her cause
save Cronus, the crafty. With an iron sickle he lay in wait for
his sire, fell upon him, and drove him, grievously wounded, from
the encounter. From the blood of the mutilated Uranus leaped
into being the Furies, whose heads writhe with serpents ; the
Giants, a novel race of monsters; and the Melic Nymphs, in-
vidious maidens of the ashen spear.
5. The Rule of Cronus. Now follows the reign of Cronus, lord
of Heaven and Earth. He is, from the beginning, of incalculable
years. In^works pf art hi<; jipad ir veiled, to typify his cunning and
his reserve ; he bears the sickle not only as' ineMentb of the means
by which he brought his father's tyranny to end, but as symbol of
the new period of growth apd goldeJX. harvests, that Tie ushered "m.
~ tor unlmown ages Cronus and Rhea, his sister-queen, governed
Heaven and Earth. To them were bom three daughters, Vesta,
Ceres, and Juno, and three sons, Pluto, Neptune, and Jupiter.
Cronus, however, having learned from his parents that he should
be dethroned by one of his own children, conceived the well-inten-
tioned but ill-considered device of swallowing each as it was born.
His queen, naturally desirous of discouraging the practice, — when
it came to the turn of her sixth child, palmed off on the insatiable
Cronus a stone carefully enveloped in swaddling clothes. Jupiter
(or Zeus), the rescued infant, was concealed in the island of Crete,
where, nurtured by the nymphs Adrastea and Ida, and fed on the
milk of the goat Amalthea, he in due season attained maturity.
Then, assisted by his grandmother Gaea, he constrained Cronus to
disgorge the burden of his cannibal repasts. First came to light
the memorable stone, which was placed in safe keeping at Delphi;
then the five brothers and sisters of Jupiter, ardent to avenge
themselves upon the unnatural author of their existence and
their captivity.
6. The War of the Titans. In the war which ensued lapetus
and all the Titans, except Oceanus, ranged themselves on the side
of their brother Cronus against Jupiter and his recently recovered
6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
kinsfolk. Jupiter and his hosts held Mount Olympus. For ages
victory wavered in the balance. Finally Jupiter, acting again under
the advice of Gaea, released from Tartarus, where Uranus had con-
fined them, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires. Instantly they
hastened to the battle-field of Thessaly, the Cyclopes to support
Jupiter with their thunders and lightnings, the hundred-handed
monsters with the shock of the earthquake. Provided with such
artillery, shaking earth and sea, Jupiter issued to the onslaught.
With the gleam of the lightning the Titans were blinded, by the
earthquake they were laid low, with the flames they were well-nigh
consumed : overpowered and fettered by the hands of the Hecaton-
chires, they were consigned to the yawning cave of Tartarus.
Atlas, the son of lapetus, was doomed to bear the heavens on his
shoulders. But a more famous son of the same Titan, Prometheus,
who had espoused the cause of Jove, acquired dignity hereafter to
be set forth.
7. The Division of Empire. In the council of the gods that
succeeded, Jupiter was chosen Sovereign of the World. He dele-
gated to his brother Neptune (or Poseidon) the kingdom of the sea
and of all the waters ; to his brother Pluto (or Hades); the govern-
ment of the underworld, dark, unseen, mysterious, where the spirits
of the dead should dwell, and of Tartarus, wherein were held the
fallen Titans. For himself Jupiter retained Earth and the Heaven,
into whose broad and sunny regions towered Olympus, the favored
mountain of the greater gods.^
8. The Reign of Jupiter. New conflicts, however, awaited this
new dynasty of Heaven — conflicts, the subject of many a tale
among the ancients. Gaea, though she had aided her grandson
Jupiter in the war against Cronus, was soon seized with compunc-
tions of conscience ; and contemplating the cruel fate of her sons
the Titans, she conceived schemes of vengeance upon their con-
queror. Another son was bom to her — Typkotty a monster more
awful than his predecessors — whose destiny it was to dispute the
sway of the almighty Zeus, From the neck of Typhon dispread
themselves a hundred dragon-heads ; his eyes shot fire, and from
his black-tongued chaps proceeded the hissing of snakes, the
^ On f ignification of Uranui, Cronus, Zeus, see Preller, i. 37, 38, and Commentary, §§ 4, 24.
\
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 7
beUowing of bulls, the roaring of lions, the barking of dogs, pip-
ings and screams, and, at .times, the voice and utterance of the
gods themselves. Against Heaven this horror lifted himself ; but
quailing before the thunderbolt of Jove, he too descended to
Tartarus, his own place and the abode of his brethren. To this
day, however, he grumbles and hisses, thrusts upward a fieiy
tongue through the crater
of a volcano, or, breathing
siroccos, scorches trees and
men.
Later still, the Giants,
offspring of the blood that
fell from the wounded Ura-
nus, renewed the revolt
against the Olympian gods.
They were creatures nearer
akin to men than were the
Titans, or the Cyclopes, or
Typhon. They clothed them-
selves in the skins of beasts,
and armed themselves with
rocks and trunks of trees.
Their bodies and lower limbs
were of snakes. They were p,^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^
awful to encounter or to look
upon. Th^ were named, like men, the earthbom; and their
■characteristics would suggest some prehistoric brutish race, hot-
head^, not amenable to reason.^ Of the Giants, the more mighty
were Alcyoneus of the winter storms and icebergs, Pallas, and
Enceladt^, and Porphyrion the fire-king, ^ — leader of the crew.
In the war against them, Juno and Minerva, divinities of the new
dynas^ of Heaven, took active part, — and Hercules, an earthly
son of Jupiter, whose arrows aided in their defeat. It was from
the overthrow of Pallas that Athena (or Minerva) derived, according
to certain records, her proud designation of Pallas-Athena.^ In
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
due course, like the Titans and Typhon, the Giants were buried
in the abyss of eternal darkness. What other outcome can be
expected when mere physical or brute force joins issue with the
enlightened and embatded hosts of heaven f
Fig. 3, Zeus
9. The Origin of Man was a question which the Greeks did not
settle so easily as the Hebrews. Greek traditions do not trace all
mankind to an original pair. On the contrary, the generally
received opinion was that men grew out of trees and stones, or
were produced by the rivers or the sea. Some said that men and
gods were both derived from Mother Earth, hence both autochtho-
nous; and some, indeed, claimed an antiquity for the human race
equal to that of the divinities. All narratives, however, agree in
one statement, — that the gods maintained intimate relations with
men until, because of the growing sinfulness and arrogance of
mankind, it became necessary for the immortals to withdraw their
favor.
10. Prometheus, a Creator. There is a story which attributes
the making of man to Prometheus, whose father lapetus had,
with Cronus, opposed the sovereign^ of Jupiter. In that conflict,
Prometheus, gifted with prophetic wisdom, had adopted the cause
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION
of the Olympian deities, Tohim
and his brother Epimetheus was
now committed the office of
making man and providing him
and all other animals with the
faculties necessary for their
preservation. Prometheus was
to overlook the work of Epime-
theus. Epimetheus proceeded
to bestow upon the different
animals the various gifts of
courage, strength, swiftness, sa-
gacity ; wings to one, claws to
another, a shelly covering to a
third. But Prometheus himself
made a nobler anima! than these.
Taking some earth and knead-
ing it with water, he made man
in the image of the gods. He
gave him an upright stature, so
that while other animals turn
their faces toward the earth,
man gazes on the stars. Then
since Epimetheus, always rash,
and thoughtful when too late,
had been so prodigal of his
gifts to other animals that no
blessing was left worth confer-
ring upon the noblest of crea-
tures, Prometheus ascended to
heaven, lighted his torch at the
chariot of the sun, and brought
down fire. With fire in his
possession man would be able
to win her secrets and treasures
from the earth, to develop com-
merce, science, and the arts.
lO THE CLASSIC MYTHS
11. The Age of Gold. Whether in this or in other ways the
world was furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of
innocence and happiness. Truth and right prevailed, though not
enforced by law, nor was there any in authority to threaten or to
punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to yield
timbers for vessels, nor had men built fortifications round their
towns. There were no such things as swords, spears, or helmets.
The earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his
labor in plowing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers
sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and
yellow honey distilled from the oaks. This Golden Age had begun
in the reign of Cronus.^ And when these heroes fell asleep in
death, they were translated in a pleasant dream to a spiritual exist-
ence, in which, unseen by mortal eyes, they still attended men as
monitors and guardians.
12. The Silver Age came next, inferior to the golden. Jupiter
shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons. Then, first,
men suffered the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became
necessary. Caves were their dwellings, — and leafy coverts of the
woods, and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow with-
out planting. The farmer was constrained to sow the seed, and the
ox to draw the plow. This was a race of manly men, but insolent
and impious. And when they died, Jupiter made them ghosts of
the underworld, but withheld the privilege of immortal life.
13. Prometheusi Champion of Man. During this age when, as
Hesiod says, the altars of the blessed were neglected, and the
gods were denied their due, Prometheus stood forth — the cham-
pion of man against the Olympians.^ For the son of Cronus had
grudged mortals the use of fire, and was, in fact, contemplating
their annihilation and the creation of a new race. Therefore, once
upon a time, when gods and men were in dispute at Sicyon con-
cerning the prerogatives of each, Prometheus, by an ingenious
trick, attempted to settle the question in favor of man. Dividing
into two portions a sacrificial bull, he wrapped all the eatable parts
1 Consequently the creation of these men could not be assigned to Prometheus, — unless
they were made by him before the war of the Titans.
• There is uncertainty as to the mythical period of these events. The order here given
seems to me well grounded. Hcs. Works and Days, i8o ; Theog. 790-910.
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 1 1
in the skin, cunningly surmounted with uninviting entrails ; but
the bones he garnished with a plausible mass of fat. He then
offered Jupiter his choice. The king of Heaven, although he per-
ceived the intended fraud, took the heap of bones and fat, and,
forthwith availing himself of this insult as an excuse for punishing
mankind, deprived the race of fire. But Prometheus regained the
treasure, stealing it from Heaven in a hollow tube.
14. Pandora. Doubly enraged, Jupiter, in his turn, had recourse
to stratagem. He is declared to have planned for man a curse
in the shape of woman. How the race had persisted hitherto with-
out woman is a mystery ; but that it had done so, with no slight
degree of happiness, the experience of the Golden Age would
seem to prove. However, the bewitching evil was fashioned, —
in Heaven, properly enough, — and every god and goddess contrib-
uted something to her perfection. One gave her beauty, another
persuasive charm, a third the faculty of music. And they named
her Pandora, "the gift of all the gods.'* Thus equipped, she was
conveyed to earth and presented to Epimetheus, who, without
hesitation, accepted the gift, though cautioned by his brother to
beware of Jupiter and all his ways. And the caution was not
groundless. In the hand of Pandora had been placed by the
immortals a casket or vase which she was forbidden to open.
Overcome by an unaccountable curiosity to know what this vessel
contained, she one day lifted the cover and looked in. Forthwith
theie escaped a multitude of plagues for hapless man — gout, rheu-
matism, and colic for his body ; envy, spite, and revenge for his
mind — and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened
to replace the lid ; but one thing only remained in the casket, and
that was hope.
15. Prometheus Bound. Because of his unselfish devotion to
the cause of humanity, Prometheus drew down on himself the
anger of Olympian Jove, by whose order he was chained to a rock
on Mount Caucasus, and subjected to the attack of an eagle (or a
vulture) which, for ages, preyed upon his liver, yet succeeded not
in consuming it. This state of torment might have been brought
to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to
submit to his oppressor ; for he possessed a secret which involved
12 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the stability of Jove's throne. This was that by a certain woman
Jove would beget a son who should displace him and end the sway
of the Olympians. The god naturally desired more accurate infor-
mation of this decree of Fate. But to reveal the secret Prometheus
disdained. In this steadfastness the Titan was supported by the
knowledge that in the thirteenth generation there should arrive a
hero, — sprung from Jove himself, — to release him.^ And in full-
ness of time the hero did arrive : none other than the mighty
Hercules desirous of rendering the highest service to mankind.
No higher service, thinks this radiant and masterful personage, —
who, as we shall see, had already cleared the world of many a
monster, — remains to be performed than to free the champion of
mankind, suffering through the ages because he had brought light
into the world. ** The soul of man," says Hercules to the Titan —
The soul of man can never be enslaved
Save by its own infirmities, nor freed
Save by its very strength and own resolve
And constant vision and supreme endeavor !
You will be free ? Then, courage, O my brother !
O let the soul stand in the open door
Of life and death and knowledge and desire
And see the peaks of thought kindle with sunrise !
Then shall the soul return to rest no more,
Nor harvest dreams in the dark field of sleep —
Rather the soul shall go with great resolve
To dwell at last upon the shining mountains
In liberal converse with the eternal stars.*
And he kills the vulture ; and sets Jove's victim free.
By his demeanor Prometheus has become the ensample of
magnanimous endurance, and of resistance to oppression.
Titan ! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise.
What was thy pity's recompense ?
A silent suffering, and intense ;
1 §§ 156, 161, 191 and Commentary, § 10.
S From Herakles, a drama by George Cabot Lodge.
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 13
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
The agony they do not show.
The suffocating sense of woe.
Which speaks but in its loneliness.
And then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
Until its voice is echoless. ...
Thy godlike crime was to be kind.
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen man with his own mind.
But, bafRed as thou wert from high.
Still, in thy patient energy,
In the endurance and repulse
Of thine impenetrable spirit,
Which earth and heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit.^ . . .
16. Longfellow's Prometheus. A happy application of the story
of Prometheus is made by Lx)ngfellow in the following verses i^
Of Prometheus, how undaunted
On 01)mipus' shining bastions
His audacious foot he planted.
Myths are told, and songs are chanted.
Full of promptings and suggestions.
Beautiful is the tradition
Of that flight through heavenly portals,
The old classic superstition
Of the theft and the transmission
Of the fire of the Immortals !
Ilrst the deed of noble daring.
Bom of heavenward aspiration,
Then the fire with mortals sharing,
Then the vulture, — the despairing
Cry of pain on crags Caucasian.
1 From Byron's Prometheus. See also his translation from the Prometheus Vinctus of
MachylvMf and his Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte.
s Prometfacus, or The Poet's Forethought See Commentary
14 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
All is but a s3rmbol painted
Of the Poet, Prophet, Seer ;
Only those are crowned and sainted
Who with grief have been acquainted,
Making nations nobler, freer.
In their feverish exultations,
In their triumph and their yearning.
In their passionate pulsations.
In their words among the nations,
The Promethean fire is burning.
Shall it, then, be unavailing.
All this toil for human culture ?
Through the cloud-rack, dark and trailing,
Must they see above them sailing
O'er life's barren crags the vulture ?
Such a fate as this was Dante's,
By defeat and exile maddened ;
Thus were Milton and Cervantes,
Nature's priests and Corybantes,
By affliction touched and saddened.
But the glories so transcendent
That around their memories cluster,
And, on all their steps attendant.
Make their darkened lives resplendent
With such gleams of inward lustre 1
All the melodies mysterious.
Through the dreary darkness chanted ;
Thoughts in attitudes imperious.
Voices soft, and deep, and serious,
Words that whispered, songs that haunted !
All the soul in rapt suspension,
All the quivering, palpitating
Chords of life in utmost tension.
With the fervor of invention,
With the rapture of creating I
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION 15
Ah, Prometheus ! heaven-scaling !
In such hours of exultation
Even the faintest heart, unquailing,
Might behold the vulture sailing
Round the cloudy crags Caucasian !
Though to all there is not given
Strength for such sublime endeavor,
Thus to scale the walls of heaven,
And to leaven with fiery leaven
All the hearts of men forever ;
Yet all bards, whose hearts unblighted
Honor and believe the presage.
Hold aloft their torches lighted,
Gleaming through the realms benighted.
As they onward bear the message !
17. The Brazen Age. Next to the Age of Silver came that of
brass,^ more savage of temper and readier for the strife of arms,
yet not altogether wicked.
18. The Iron Age. Last came the hardest age and worst, — of
iron. Crime burst in like a flood ; modesty, truth, and honor fled.
The gifts of the earth were put only to nefarious uses. Fraud, vio-
lence, war at home and abroad were rife. The world was wet
with slaughter ; and the gods, one by one, abandoned it, Astraea,
following last, goddess of innocence and purity.
19. The Flood. Jupiter, observing the condition of things,
^ burned with anger. He summoned the gods to council. Obeying
the call, they traveled the Milky Way to the palace of Heaven.
There, Jupiter set forth to the assembly the frightful condition of
the earth, and announced his intention of destroying its inhabit-
ants, and providing a new race, unlike the present, which should
be worthier of life and more reverent toward the gods. Fearing
lest a conflagration might set Heaven itself on fire, he proceeded
to drown the world. Not satisfied with his own waters, he called
his brother Neptune to his aid. Speedily the race of men, and
their possessions, were swept away by the deluge.
1 Compare Byron's political satire, The Age of Bronze.
1 6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^ I 20. Deucalion and Pyrrha. Parnassus alone, of the mountains,
/ overtopped the waves ; and there JQeucaUon, son of Prometheus,
V and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, found refuge — he
a just man and she a faithful worshiper of the gods. Jupiter, re-
membering the harmless lives and pious demeanor of this pair,
caused the waters to recede, — the sea to return to its shores, and
the rivers to their channels. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha, enter-
ing a temple defaced with slime, approached the unkindled altar
and, falling prostrate, prayed for guidance and aid. The oracle^
answered, ** Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments
unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother." They
heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence :
** We cannot obey ; we dare not profane the remains of our parents."
They sought the woods, and revolved the oracle in their minds.
At last Deucalion spoke : ** Either my wit fails me or the com-
mand is one we may obey without impiety. The earth is the great
parent of all ; the stones are her bones ; these we may cast behind
us ; this, I think, the oracle means. At least, to try will harm us
not." They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and, pick-
ing up stones, cast them behind them. The stones began to grow
soft and to assume shape. By degrees they put on a rude resem-
blance to the human form. Those thrown by Deucalion became
men ; those by Pyrrha, women. It was a hard race that sprang up,
and well adapted to labor.
21. The Demigods and Heroes. As preceding the Age of Iron,
Hesiod mentions an Age of Demigods and Heroes, Since, how-
ever, these demigods and heroes were, many of them, reputed to-
have been directly descended from Deucalion, their epoch must be
regarded as subsequent to the deluge. The hero, Hellen, son of
Deucalion and Pyrrha, became the ancestor of the Hellenes, or
Greeks. The iEolians and Dorians were, according to legend,
descended from his sons iEolus and Dorus ; from his son Xuthus,
the Acha^ns and lonians derived their origin.
Another great division of the Greek people, the Pelasgic, resi-
dent in the Peloponnesus or southern portion of the peninsula,
was said to have sprung from a different stock of he^'oes, that of
1 Oncles, tec §§ 24, 30, and Commentaiy.
GREEK MYTHS OF THE CREATION
17
Pelasgus, son of Phoroneus of Argos and grandson of the river-
god Imchus.
The demigods^im^Jieroes were of matchless worth and ralor.
Their adventures form the subject of many of the succeeding chap-
ters. The Older Heroes, especially, were endowed with godlike
qualities, which they devoted to the service of mankind in the
destruction of monsters, the founding of cities, or the introduction
of civilization. Such were Perseus, the hero of Argos and his
descendant Hercules, who came to be worshiped as the national
hero of the Greeks. Such, too, Cadmus, the founder of Thebes,
and Cecrops of Athens, and one of his successors, Theseus, a
" second Hercules." Each city of Greece had its patron hero, to
whom it accorded the honors of divinity. The Younger Heroes
were chieftains in the Theban and the Trojan wars and in numer-
ous other military or predatory expeditions.
Fig. 5. PosRiDON, Uiomvsus,
CHAPTER II
THE GODS OF HEAVEN^
32. Olympus. The heaven of the Greek gods was the summit
of an ideal mountain called Olympus.* A gate of clouds, kept by
goddesses, the Hours or Seasons,
opened to permit the passage of the
Celestials to earth, and to receive
them on their return. The gods had
their separate dwellings; but all,
when summoned, repaired to the
palace of Jupiter, — even the deities
whose usual abode was the earth,
the waters, or the underworid. In the
great hall of the Olympian king the
gods feasted each day on ambrosia
and nectar. Here they conversed of
the affairs of heaven and earth ; and
as they quaffed the nectar that Hebe
poured, Apollo made melody with
his lyre and the Muses sang in re-
Fic. 6. Two Hours sponsive Strain. When the sun was ,
set, the gods withdrew to their respective dwellings for the night.
The following lines from the Odyssey express the conception
of Olympus entertained by Homer :
So sa)dng, Minerva, goddess, azure-eyed,
Rose to Olympus, the reputed seat
Eternal of the gods, which never storms
Disturb, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm
The expanse and cloudless shines with purest day.
There the inhabitants divine rejoice
Forever.'
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 1 9
23. The Great Gods. The gods of Heaven were the following : ^
^ Jupiter (Zeus).^
"^ His daughter, Minerva (Athena), who sprang from his brain, full-grown and
full-armed.
"^ His sister and wife, Juno (Hera).
His children by Juno, — Mars (Ares), Vulcan (Hephaestus), and Hebe.
His children by Latona, — Apollo, or Phoebus, and Diana (Artemis).
His daughter by Dione, — Venus (Aphrodite).'
His son by Mcda, — Mercury (Hehnes).
His sister, Vesta (Hestia), the oldest bom of Cronus and Rhea.
Of these all were deities of the highest order save Hebe, who
must be ranked with the lesser gods. With the remaining ten
'* Great Gods '* axe sometimes reckoned the other sister of Jupiter,
Ceres (Demeter), properly a divinity of earth, and Neptune
(Poseidon), ruler of the sea.
24. Jupiter ^ (Zeus). The Greek name signifies the radiant light
of heaven. Jupiter was the supreme ruler of the universe, wisest
of the divinities and most glorious. In the Hiad he informs the
other gods that their united strength would not budge him : that, on
the contrary, he could draw them and earth and the seas to him-
self, and suspend all from Olympus by a golden chain. Throned
in the high, clear heavens, Jupiter was the gatherer of clouds and
snows, the dispenser of gentle rains and winds, the moderator of
light and heat and the seasons, the tnunderer, the wielder of the
thunderbolt. Bodily strength and valor were dear to him. He was
worshiped with various rites in different lands, and to him were
sacred everywhere the loftiest trees and the grandest mountain
peaks. He required of his worshipers cleanliness of surroundings
and person and heart. Justice was his ; his to repay violation of
duty in the family, in social relations, and in the state. Prophecy
was his ; and his will was made known at the oracle of Dodona,
where answers were given to those who inquired concerning the
future. This oracular shrine was the most ancient in Greece.
According to one account two black doves had taken wing from
1 Se« Conunentaiy, § 23, for Gladstone's latest utterance on the number of the Olympians.
* The names included in parentheses represent the Greek, the others being Roman
equivalents, Latin names, or names common to both Greek and Roman usage.
' See Commentaiy, § 34. ^ On the Latin name, see Commentary, § 24.
20 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Thebes in Egypt. One flew to Dodona in Epirus, and, alighting
in a grove of oaks, proclaimed to the inhabitants of the district
that they should establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other
dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan oasis,
and delivered a similar command. According to another account,
these were not doves but priestesses who, carried off from Thebes
by the Phcenicians, set up oracles at Oasis and Dodona. The
responses of the oracle were given
by the rustling of the oak trees in
the wind. The sounds were inter-
preted by priests.
That Jupiter himself, though
wedded to the goddess Junoj should
be charged with numerous other
love affairs, not only in respect of
goddesses but of mortals, is, in
part, explained by the fact that to
the supreme divinily of the Greeks
have been ascribed attributes and
adventures of numerous local and
foreign divinities that were grad-
ually identified with him. It is, there-
fore, not wise to assume that the
love affairs of Jupiter and of other
divinities always symbolize combina-
tions of natural or physical forces
that have repeated themselves in
important to understand that the more
ideal Olympian religion absorbed features of inferior reli^ons,
and that Jupiter, when represented as appropriating the char-
acteristics of other gods, was sometimes, also, accredited with
their wives.
Beside the children of Jupiter already enumerated, there should
here be mentioned, as of peculiar consequence, Bacchus (Diony-
sus), the god of wine, a deity of earth, — Proserpine, the wife of
Pluto and queen of the underworld, — and Hercules, the greatest
of the heroes.
Fig. 7. Zeus
ever-varying guise. It
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 21
35. Conceptloas of Jupiter. The Greeks usually conceived the
Jupiter of war as riding in his thunder-car, hurling the thunder-
bolt or lashing his enemies with a scourge of lightning. He wore
a breastplate or shield of storm-cloud like the skin of a gray goat
(the ^£is), fearful to behold, and made by the god of fire. His
special messenger was the eagle. It was, however, only with the
passage of generations that the Greeks came to represent their
greatest of die gods by the works of men's hands. The statue of
Olympian Jove by Phidias was considered the highest achievement
of Grecian sculpture. It was of colossal dimensions and, like other
statues of the period, " chryselephantine," that is, composed of
ivory and gold. For the parts representing flesh were of ivory laid
on a framework of wood, while the drapery
and ornaments were of gold. The height
of the figure was forty feet, of the pedestal
twelve. The god was represented as seated
on his throne. His brows were crowned
with a wreath of olive ; he held in his right
hand a scepter, and in his left a statue of
Victory. The throne was of cedar, adorned
with gold and precious stones.
The idea which the artist essayed to
embody was that of the supreme deity of ""
the Hellenic race, enthroned as a conqueror, in perfect majesty
and repose, and ruling with a nod the subject world. Phidias
informs us that the idea was suggested by Homer's lines in the
first book of the Iliad :
Jove Baid, and nodded with his shadowy brows ;
Waved on th' immortal head th' ambroaal locks, — ,
And all Olympus trembled at his nod.^
Unfortunately, our knowledge of this famous statue is confined to
literary descriptions, and to copies on coins. Other representa-
tions of Jove have been obtained from Greek bronze statuettes, or
the wall-paintings of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
> Iliad, 1, 613-63;, Eari of DotiT'i tmuUtion. See also the passage in Chapnuui's
22
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
26. Juno ^ (Hera), sister and wife of Jupiter. According to some,
the name Ifera means Splendor of Heaven, according to others,
the Lady. Some think it approves her goddess of earth ; others,
goddess of the air ; still others, for reasons by no means final, say
that it signifies Protectress, and applies to Juno in her original func-
tion of moon-goddess, the chosen guardian of women, their aid in
seasons of distress. Juno's union with Jupiter was the prototype of
earthly marriages. She is the type of matronly virtues and dignity.
She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, but was brought up
by Oceanus and Tethys in their dwelling in the remote west
beyond the sea. Without the knowl-
edge of her parents, she was wedded
to Jupiter in this garden of the gods
where ambrosial rivers flowed, and
where Earth sent up in honor of the
rite a tree of life, heavy with apples
golden like the sunset. Juno was the
most worthy of the goddesses, the
most queenly ; ox-eyed, says Homer ;
says Hesiod, golden-sandaled and
golden - throned. Glorious beyond
compare was her presence, when
she had harnessed her horses, and
driven forth the golden-wheeled chariot that Hebe made ready,
and that the Hours set aside. Fearful, too, could be her wrath.
For she was of a jealous disposition, which was not happily affected
by the vagaries of her spouse ; and she was, moreover, prone to
quarrels, self-willed, vengeful, proud, even on occasion deceitful.
Once, indeed, she conspired with Minerva and Neptune to bind the
cloud-compeller himself. More than once she provoked him to
blows ; and once to worse than blows, — for her lord and master
swung her aloft in the clouds, securing her wrists in golden hand-
cuffs and hanging anvils to her feet.
The cities that the ox-eyed goddess favored were Argos, Sparta,
and Mycenae. To her the peacock and the cow were dear, and
many a grove and pasture rejoiced her sacred herds.
1 On the name /uino, lee Commentary.
Fig. 9. Hera of Argos
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 23
27. Hlnerva (Athene or Athena), the virgin goddess. She sprang
from the brain of Jove, agleam with panoply of war, brandishing a
spear and with her battle-cry awakening the echoes of heaven and
earth. She is goddess of the lightning that leaps like a lance from
the cloud-heavy sky, and hence, probably, the name Athene} She
is goddess of the storms and of the rushing thunderbolt, and is,
therefore, styled Pallas. She is
"the goddess of the thundercloud,
which is symbolized by her tas-
seled breastplate of goatskin, the
sgis, whereon is fixed the head of
Medusa, the Gorgon, that turns to
stone all beholders. She is also the
goddess of war, rejoicing in martial music and
protecting the war horse and the warship. On
the other hand, she is of a gentle, fair, and
thoughtful aspect. Her Latin name Minerva
is connected with the Sanskrit, Greek, and
Latin words for mind. She is eternally a
virgin, the goddess of wisdom, of skill, of con-
templation, of spinning and weaving, of horti-
culture and agriculture. She is protectress of
cities, and was specially worshiped in her own
Athens, in Argos, in Sparta, and in Troy. To
her were sacrificed oxen and cows. The olive
tree, created by her, was sacred to her, and also
the owl, the cock, the serpent, and the crow.
28. Uais (Ares),* the war-god, son of Jupiter and Juno. The
meaning of the name Ares is uncertain ; the most probable sig-
nifications are the Slayer, the Avenger, the Curse. The Roman
god of war. Mars, is the bright and burning one. Homer, in the
Iliad, represents Ares as the insatiable warrior of the heroic age,
who, impelled by rage and lust of violence, exults in the noise
of battle, revels in the horror of carnage. Strife and slaughter
are the condition of his existence. Where the fight is thickest,
there he rushes in without hesitation, without question as to which
24
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
side is right. In battle array he is resplendent, — on his head
the gleaming helmet and floating plume, on his arm the leathern
shield, in his hand the redoubtable spear of bronze. Well-favored,
stately, swift, unwearied, puissant, gigantic, he is still the foe of
wisdom, the scourge of mortals. Usually he fights on foot, some-
times from a chariot drawn by four horses, — the offspring of the
North Wind and a Futy. In the fray
his sons attend him, — Terror, Trem-
bling, Panic, and Fear, — also his
sister Eris, or Discord (the mother of
Strife), his daughter Enyo, miner of
cities, and a retinue of bloodthirsty
demons. As typifying the chances of
war. Mars is, of course, not always
successful. In the batdes before Troy,
Minerva and Juno bring him more
than once to grief ; and when he com-
plains to Jupiter, he is snuteed as a
renegade most hateful of all the gods.'
His loved one and mistress is the god-
dess of beauty herself . In her arms the
warrior finds repose. Their daughter
Harmonia is the ancestress of the
unquiet dynasty of Thebes. The fa-
vorite land of Mars was, according to
Homer, the rough, northerly Thrace.
His emblems are the spear and the
burning torch ; his chosen animals
are haunters of the batde field, — the vulture and the dog.
29. Vulcan (Hepheestus), son of Jupiter and Juno, was the god
of fire, especially of terrestrial fire, — volcanic eruption, incen-
diary flame, the glow of the forge or the hearth. But as the fires
of earth are derived from that of heaven, perhaps the name
Hepk(Bstus (burning, shining, flaming) referred originally to the
marvelous brilliance of the lightning. Vulcan was the blacksmith
of the gods, the finest artificer in metal among them. His forge in
1 llkd,5, Jts. See alu 31, 39S.
THE GODS OF HEAVEN
25
Ares (Mars)
Olympus was furnished not only with anvils and all other implements
of the trade, but with automatic handmaidens of silver and gold,
fashioned by Vulcan himself. Poets later than Homer assign to
Vulcan workshops under various volcanic islands. From the crater
of Mount ^tna poured
forth the fumes and
flames of his smithy.
He built the dwellings
of the gods ; he made
the scepter of Jove, the
shields and spears of
the Olympians, the ar-
rows of Apollo and
Diana, the breastplate
of Hercules, the shield
of Achilles.
He was lame of gait,
— a figurative sugges-
tion, perhaps of the flickenng unsteady nature of fire. According
to his own story ^ he was bom halt and his mother, chagrined by
his deformity cast him from Heaven out of the sight of the gods.
Yet, again ^ he says that, attempting once to save his mother
from Jupiter s wralii
he was caught by the
foot and hurled by the
son of Cronus from
the heavenly thresh-
old: " All day I flew ;
and at the set of sun
I fell in Lemnos, and
little life was left in
me." Hadhenotbeen ""=■ "3 ''"• '-«" " ^"«'"
lame before, he had good reason to limp after either of these
catastrophes. He took part in the making of the human race, and
in the special creation of Pandora. He assisted also at the birth of
Minerva, to facilitate which he split Jupiter's head open with an ax.
1 Iliad, 18, 395. " Iliad, i, 390,
26
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
. His wife, according to the Iliad and Hesiod's Theogony, is
Aglaia, the youngest of the Graces ; but in the Odyssey it is
Venus. He is a glorious, good-natured god, loved and honored
among men as the founder of wise customs and the patron of
artificers ; on occasion, as a god of healing and of prophecy. He
seems to have been, when he chose, the cause of " inextinguishable
laughter " to the gods, but he was by no means a fool. The famous
god of the strong arms could be cunning, even
vengeful, when the emergency demanded.
30. Apollo, or Phcebus Apollo, the son
of Jupiter and Latona, was preeminently
the god of the sun. His name Phcebus sig-
nifies the radiant nature of the sunlight ; his
name Apollo, perhaps, the cruel and destruc-
tive heat of noonday. Soon after his birth,
Jupiter would have sent him to Delphi to
inculcate righteousness and justice among the
Greeks ; but the golden god Apollo chose
first to spend a year in the land of the
Hyperboreans, where for six continuous
months of the year there is sunshine and
spring, soft climate, profusion of herbs and
flowers, and the very ecstasy of life. Dur-
ing this delay the Delphians sang pseans, —
hymns of praise, — and danced in chorus
about the tripod {or three-legged stool),
where the expectant priestess of Apollo had
taken her seat. At last, when the year was
warm, came the god in his chariot drawn by swans, — heralded by
songs of springtide, of nightingales and swallows and crickets.
Then the crystal fount of Castalia and the stream Cephissus over-
flowed their bounds, and mankind made grateful offerings to the
god. But his advent was not altogether peaceful. An enormous
serpent. Python, had crept forth from the slime with which, after
the flood, the Earth was covered ; and in the caves of Mount
Parnassus this terror of the people lurked. Him Apollo encoun-
tered and after fearful combat slew, with arrows, weapons which
Fig. 14.
THE GODS OF HEAVEN
27
the god of the silver bow had not before used against any but feeble
animals, — hares, wild goats, and such game. In commemoration
of this illustrious conquest, he instituted the Pythian games, in
which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of foot, or m the
chariot race, should be crowned with a wreath of beech leaves.
Apollo brought not only the warm spring and summer,- but also
the blessings of the harvest. He warded off the dangers and diseases
of summer and autumn ;
and he healed the sick. He
was patron of music and of
poetry. Through his oracle
at Delphi, on the slopes of
Parnassus in Phocis, the
Pythian god made known
the future to those who
consulted him. He was a
founder of cities, a promoter
of colonization, a giver of
good laws, the ideal of fair
and manly youth, —a pure
and just god, requiring clean
hands and pure hearts of
those that worshiped him.
But though a god of life
and peace, the far-darter
did not shun the weapons
of war. When presump-
tion was to be punished, or
wrong righted, he could bend his bow and slay with the arrows of
his sunlight. As in the days of his youth he slew the Python, so, also,
he slew the froward Tityus, and so the children of Niobe. While
Fhcebus Apollo is the Olympian divinity of the sun, fraught with
light and healing, spiritual, creative, and prophetic, he must not
be confounded with a god of the older dynasty, Helios (offspring
of Hyperion, Titanic deity of light), who represented the sun in
its daily and yearly course, in its physical rather than spiritual man-
ifestation. The bow of Apollo was bound with laurel in memory
. Apollo Belvedere
aS THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of Daphne, whom he loved. To him were sacred, also, many
creatures, — the wolf, the roe, the mouse, the he-goat, the ram,
the dolphin, and the swan.^
31. Shelley's Hymn of Apollo.
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie,
Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries,
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes, —
Waken me when tlieir mother, the gray Dawn,
Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone.
Then I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome,
I walk over the mountains and the waves.
Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam ;
My footsteps pave the clouds with fire ; the
Are filled with my bright presence, and the air
Leaves the green earth to my embraces bare.
The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill
Deceit, that loves the night and fears the day ;
All men who do or even imagine ill
Fly me, and from the gloty of my ray
Fig. i6. Apollo Good minds and open actions take new might.
Until diminished by the reign of night.
I feed the clouds, the rainbows, and the flowers
With their ethereal colors ; the moon's globe
And the pure stars in their eternal bowers
Are cinctured with my power as with a robe ;
Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine,
Are portions of one power, which is mine.
I stand at noon upon the peak of Heaven,
Then with unwilling steps I wander down
Into the clouds of the Atlantic even ;
For grief that I depart they weep and frown ;
What look is more delightful than the smile
With which I soothe them from the western isle ?
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 29
I am the eye with which the universe
Beholds itself and knows itself divine;
All hannony of instrument or verse,
All prophecy, all medidne, are mine,
All light of art or nature ; — to my song.
Victory and praise in their own right belong,
32. Diana (Artemis), twin sister of Apollo, was bom on Mount
Cynthus in the island of Delos. Latona, the future mother of
Diana and Apollo, flying
from the wrath of Juno,
had besought, one after
another, the islands of the
^gean to afford her a
place of rest; but they
feared too much the potent
queen of heaven, Delos
alone consented to become
the birthplace of the future
deities. This isle was then
floating and unstable ; but
on Latona's arrival, Jupiter
fastened it with adaman-
tine chains to the bottom
of the sea, that it might be
a secure resting-place for
his beloved. The daughter
of Latona is, as her name
Artemis indicates, a virgin
goddess, the ideal of mod-
esty, grace, and maidenly vigor. She is associated with her brother,
the prince of archery, in nearly all his adventures, and in attributes
she is his feminine counterpart. As he is identified with sunlight,
so is she, his fair-tressed sister, with' the chaste brilliance of the
moon. Its slender arc is her bow ; its beams are her arrows with
which she sends upon womankind a speedy and painless death.
In her prerogative of moon-goddess she is frequently identified
with Selene, daughter of Hyperion, just as Apollo is with Helios.
Diana. After Correggio
30
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Despising the weakness of love, Diana imposed upon her nymphs
vows of perpetual maidenhood, any violation of which she was
sivift and severe to punish. Graceful in form and free of move-
ment, equipped for the chase, and surrounded by a bevy of fair
companions, the swift-rushing goddess was wont to scour hill,
valley, forest, and plain. She was, however, not only huntress,
but guardian, of wild beasts, ^ mistress withal of horses and kine
and other domestic brutes. She
ruled marsh and mountain ; her
gleaming arrows smote sea as
well as land. Springs and wood-
land brooks she favored, for in
them she and her attendants
were accustomed to bathe. She
blessed with verdure the mead-
ows and arable lands, and from
them obtained a meed of thanks.
When weary of the chase she
turned to music and dancing ;
for the lyre and flute and song
were dear to her. Muses, Graces,
nymphs, and the fair goddesses ■
themselves thronged the rites of
the r>ion^p-lffif1'"g q'lPfn But
ordinarily a woodland chapel or
a rustic altar sufficed for her
worship. There the hunter laid
his offering — antlers, skin, or
edible portions of the deer that Artemis of the golden arrows had
herself vouchsafed him. The holy maid, however, though naturally
gracious, gentle, and a healer of ills, was, like her brother, quick to
resent injury to her sacred herds or insult to herself. To this stem
temper Agamemnon, Orion, and Niobe bore regretful testimony.
They found that the " fair-crowned queen of the echoing chase,"
though blithe and gracious, was by no means a frivolous personage.
Diana was mistress of the brute creation, protectress of youth,
patron of temperance in all things, guardian of civil right. The
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 3 1
cypress tree was sacred to her ; and her favorites were the bear,
the boar, the dog, the goat, and specially the hind.
33. Jonson's Hymn to Cynthia (Diana).
Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair,
Now the sun is laid to sleep,
Seated in thy silver chair
State in wonted manner keep :
Hesperus entreats thy light.
Goddess excellently bright.
Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose ;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to dear when day did close :
Bless us then with wished sight,
Goddess excellently bright
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever;
Thou that mak'st a day of night,
Goddess excellently bright.' ^"'- '^^ Artemis
34. Venus (Aphrodite), goddess of love and beauty, was, accord-
ing to the more ancient Greek conception, a daughter of Jupiter
and Dione ; ^ but Hesiod says that she arose from the foam of the
sea at the time of the wounding of Uranus, and therefore was called,
by the Greeks, Aphrodite, the foam-bom? Wafted by the west
wind, and borne upon the surge, she won first the island of Cythera ;
thence, like a dream, she passed to Cyprus, where the grace and
blossom of her beauty conquered every heart. Everywhere, at the
touch of her feet the herbage quivered into flower. The Hours
and Graces surrounded her, twining odorous garlands and weaving
robes for her that reflected the hues and breathed the perfume
of crocus and hyacinth, violet, rose, lily, and iwrcissus. To her
influence is ascribed the fruitfulness of the animal and of the vege-
table creation. She is goddess of gardens and flowers, of the rose,
1 From Cynthia's Revels. ' Iliad, 5, 370, etc. ' A popular etymology.
32 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the myrtle, and the linden. The heaths and slumberous vales,
pleasant with spring and vernal breezes, are hers. In her broidered
girdle lurk ** love and desire, and loving converse that steals the
wits even of the wise." For she is the mistress of feminine charm
and beauty, the golden, sweetly smiling Aphrodite, who rules the
hearts of men. She lends to mortals seductive form and fascina-
tion. To a few, indeed, her favor is a blessing ; but to many her
gifts are treacherous, destructive of peace. Her various influence
is exemplified in the stories of Pygmalion and Adonis, Paris and
^neas, Helen, Ariadne, Psyche, Procris, Pasiphae, and Phaedra.
Her power extended over sea as well as land, and her temples
rose from many a shore. On the waters swan and dolphin were
beloved of her ; in air, the sparrow and the dove. She was usually
attended by her winged son Cupid, of whom much is to be told.
Especially dear to her were Cyprus, Cnidos, Paphos, Cythera,
Abydos, Mount Eryx, and the city of Corinth.
35. The ** Venus of Milo." Of artistic conceptions of Aphro-
dite, the most famous are the statues called the Venus of Melos
and the Venus of the Medici.^ A comparison of the two concep-
tions is instituted in the following poem.^ The worshiper apos-
trophizes the Venus of Melos, that ** inner beauty of the world,"
whose tranquil smile he finds more fair than "The Medicean*s
sly and servile grace " :
From our low world no gods have taken wing ;
Even now upon our hills the twain are wandering : *
The Medicean's sly and servile grace,
And the immortal beauty of thy face.
One is the spirit of all short-lived love
And outward, earthly loveliness :
The tremulous rosy morn is her mouth's smile.
The sky, her laughing azure eyes above ;
And, waiting for caress.
Lie bare the soft hill-slopes, the while
1 For Venus in poetry and art, see Commentary.
2 From the Venus of Milo, by E. R. Sill, formerly professor of English Literature in the
University of California.
s The references are to the Berkeley Hills, the Bay of San Francisco, and the glimpses
of the Pacific.
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 33
Her thrilling voice is heard
In song of wind and wave, and every flitting bird.
Not plainly, never quite herself she shows :
Just a swift glance of her illumined smile
Along the landscape goes ;
Just a soft hint of singing, to beguile
A man from all his toil ;
Some vanished gleam of beckoning arm, to spoil
A morning's task with longing, wild and vain.
Then if across the parching plain
He seek her, she with passion bums
His heart to fever, and he hears
The west wind's mocking laughter when he turns.
Shivering in mist of ocean's sullen tears.
It is the Medicean : well I know
The arts her ancient subtlety will show, —
The stubble field she turns to ruddy gold ;
The empty distance she will fold
In purple gauze ; the warm glow she has kissed
Along the chilling mist :
Cheating and cheated love that grows to hate
And ever deeper loathing, soon or late.
Thou, too, O fairer spirit, walkest here
Upon the lifted hills :
Wherever that still thought within the breast
The inner beauty of the world hath moved ;
In starlight that the dome of evening fills ;
On endless waters rounding to the west :
For them who thro' that beauty's veil have loved
The soul of all things beautiful the best.
For lying broad awake, long ere the dawn.
Staring against the dark, the blank of space
Opens immeasurably, and thy face
Wavers and glimmers there and is withdrawn.
And many days, when all one's work is vain,
And life goes stretching on, a waste gray plain.
With even the short mirage of morning gone.
No cool breath anywhere, no shadow nigh
Where a weary man might lay him down and die,
Lo ! thou art there before me suddenly.
With shade as if a summer cloud did pass.
And spray of fountains Arhispering to the grass.
34 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Oh, save me from the haste and noise and heat
That spoil life's music sweet:
And from that lesser Aphrodite there —
Even now she stands
Close as I turn and O my soul how fair !
36 Hercury (Hermes), bom in a cave of Mount Cyllene in
Arcadia, was the son of Jupiter and Maia (the daughter of Atlas).
According to conjecture his name Hermes means the Hastener,
Mercury, swift as the
wind, was the servant
and herald of Jupiter
and the other gods.
On his ankles (in plas-
tic art), and his low-
crowned, Iroad-brimraed
petasus, or hat, were
wings. As messenger
of Heaven, he bore
a wand {caducetts) of
wood or of gold, twined
with snakes and sur-
mounted by wings, and
possessed of magical
powers over sleeping,
waking, and dreams.
He was beautiful and
ever in the prime of
youthful vigor. To a voice sweet-toned and powerful, he added
the persuasiveness of eloquence. But his skill was not confined
to speech ; he was also the first of inventors — to him are ascribed
the lyre and the flute. He was the forerunner, too, of mathemati-
cians and astronomers. His agility and strength made him easily
prince in athletic pursuits. His cunning rendered him a dangerous
foe ; he could well play the trickster and the thief, as Apollo found
out to his vexation, and Argus, and many another unfortunate.
His methods, however, were not always questionable ; although
the patron of gamblers and the god of chance, he, at the same
te
1
■
. Hermes Psvchopomfos
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 35
time, was the furtherer of lawful industry and of commerce by land
and sea. The gravest function of the Messenger was to conduct
the souls of the dead, **that gibber like bats as they fare, down the
dank ways, past the streams of Oceanus, past the gates of the sun
and the land of dreams, to the mead of asphodel in the dark realm
of Hades, where dwell the souls, the phantoms of men outworn." ^
37. Vesta (Hestia), goddess of the hearth, public and private,
was the first-bom child of Cronus and Rhea and, accordingly, the
elder sister of Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, and Ceres. Vesta
was an old maid by choice. Averse to Venus and all her ways,
she scorned the flattering advances of both Neptune and Apollo,
and resolved to remain single. Whereupon Jupiter gave her to
sit in the middle of his palace, to receive in Olympus the choicest
morsels of the feast, and, in the temples of the gods on earth,
reverence as the oldest and worthiest of Olympian divinities. As
goddess of the burning hearth, Vesta is the divinity of the home :
of settled, in opposition to nomadic, habits of life. She was wor-
shiped first of the gods at every feast. Before her shrine in
city and state the holy flame was religiously cherished. From her
altars those of the other gods obtained their fires. No new colony,
no new home, was duly consecrated till on its central hearth there
glowed coals from her ancestral hearth. In her temple at Rome a
sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called Vestals, was
kept religiously aflame. As the safety of the city was held to be
connected with its conservation, any negligence, by which it might
go out, was severely punished. Whenever the fire did die, it was
rekindled from the rays of the sun.
38. Of the Lesser Divinities of Heaven the most worthy of
mention are :
I. Cupid {Eros)y small but mighty god of love, the son of
Venus and her constant companion. He was often represented
with eyes covered because of the blindness of his actions. With
his bow and arrows, he shot the darts of desire into the bosoms of
gods and men. Another deity neimed AnteroSy reputed the brother
of Eros, was sometimes represented as the avenger of slighted
love, and sometimes as the symbol of reciprocal affection. Venus
1 Lang, Odyssey, 24, i ; adapted.
36 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
was also attended at times by another brother of Eros, Himeros, or
Longing, and by Hymen, a beautiful youth of divine descent, the
personification of the wedding feast
and leader of the nuptial chorus. Of
Eros the poet Gosse writes :
Within a forest, as I strayed
Far down a somber autumn glade,
I found the god of love ;
His bow and arrows cast aside,
His lovely anns extended wide,
A depth of leaves above.
Beneath o'erarching boughs he made
A place for sleep in russet shade.
His lips, more red than any rose.
Were like a flower that overflows
. With honey pure and sweet ;
And clustering round that holy mouth,
The golden bees in eager drouth
Plied busy wings and feet;
They knew, what every lover knows.
There's no such honey-bloom that blows.'
Fig. 21. Eros ^- ^''^^' '^"ghter of Jupiter and
Juno, goddess of youth and cupbearer
to the gods. According to one story, she resigned that office on
becoming the wife of Hercules, According to another, Hebe was
dismissed from her position in consequence of a fall which she
met with one day when in attendance on the gods. Her successor
was Ganymede, a Trojan boy whom Jupiter, in the disguise of an
eagle, seized and carried off from the midst of his playfellows on
Mount Ida, bore up to Heaven, and installed in the vacant place.
3, The Graces, daughters of Jove by Eurynome, daughter of
Oceanus. They were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the
dance, all social pleasures, and polite accomplishments. They were
three in number, — Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, Spenser de-
scribes the office of the Graces thus :
1 EiM, by Edmund Gchk.
la the blindncM of Cupid, sac Lyly's Cupid ind
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 37
These three on men all gradous gifts bestow
Which deck the body or adorn the mind,
To make them lovely or well-favored show ;
As comely carriage, entertainment kind.
Sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind.
And all the complements of courtesy ;
They teach us how to each degree and kind
We should ourselves demean, to low, to high.
To friends, to foes ; which skill men call civility.
4. The Muses, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory).
They presided over song and prompted the memory. They are
Fig. 2z. Rape of Ganymede Fig. 23. Polyhymnia
ordinarily cited as nine in number ; and to each of them was
assigned patronage in some department of literature, art, or
science. Calliope vras the muse of epic poetry, Cho of history,
Euterpe of lyrio poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of
"TAofal dance-and song, Erato of love poetry, Polyhymnia of sacred
poetry, ITrania of asU^onomy, Thalia of comedy.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
5. Themis, one of the Titans, a daughter of Uranus, She
i goddess of justice, beside Jupiter on his throne. She was
doved of the father of gods and men, and bore him the Hours,
>ddesses who regulated the seasons and the Fates.
6 TheFites three in number — Clotho laches s, and Atropos.
'The r oftiCL vns to sp n the thread of humin dcstnj, and they were
I ov ded with shears
V, th which they cut it
off when they pleased.^
According to Ilesiod,
the) were daughters of
Night
7 Nemesis, daughter
ofNght She represented
the nghteous anger and
vengeance of the gods,
particularly toward the
proud the insolent, and
breakers of the law.
8 -Lsculapius, son
f Apollo, By his skill
nedicine he restored
dead to life. Being
ed bv the lightning
Jo e he was trans-
d to the ranks of
II iven His function
was the art of healing.
9 The Winds, —
Boreas, or Aquilo, the
lorth wind ; Zephyrus, or Favonius, the west ; Notus, or Auster, the
luth ; and Eurus, the east. The first two, chiefly, have been cele-
rated by the poets, the former as the type of rudeness, the tatter of
aitieness. It is said that Boreas loved the nymph Orithyia and
iried to play the lover's part, but met with poor success ; for it was
i for him to breathe gently, and sighing was out of the question.
1 Foi deicriptiim of their spinning, we Danilattoa o( CaCuUui.LXlV, in % 191.
c;>.p '
From the paintu g by M h ngdo{?)
THE GODS OF HEAVEN
39
Weary at last of fruitless endeavors, he acted out his true character,
seized the maiden and bore her off. Their children were Zetes and
Calais, winged warriors, who accompanied the Argonautic expedi-
tion and did good ser\'ice in an encounter with those monstrous birds,
the Harpies. Zephyrus
was the lover of Flora
(Chlons),
Here, too, may be
mentioned JEolus, the
kmg of the winds,
although he is not
a lesser divinity of
Heaven His palace
was on the precipi-
FiG 25 Boreas tOUS isle of JEcAjr,
where, with his six
sons and six daughters, he kept eternal carouse. The winds, which
he confined in a cavern, he let loose as he saw fit or as he was
bidden by superior deities. He is sometimes called Hippotades.^
and Eos, children of the Titan Hyperion.
10. Helios, Sele
Helios and Selene
were the more an-
cient Greek divinities
of Sun and Moon re-
spectively, Helios, the
charioteer of the sun,
is, as has been already
said, frequently identi-
fied with his successor,
Apollo. The attributes
and adventures of
Selene were merged
in those of the more modem Diana Eos, or, m Latin nomencla
ture, Aurora, the rosy-fingered goddess of the Mom, was mother
of the stars and of the morning and evening breezes. Saffron-robed
she rises from the streams of Ocean, to bring light to gods and men.
1 See Commenlarr.
Fig z6 Zbphyros
40 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
1 1 , Phosphor, the moming-star, the star of Venus, son of Aurora
and the hunter Cephalus. Hesper, the evening-star, was some-
times identified with Phos-
phor. He was king of the
Western Land, and, say some, '
father of the Hesperides, who
guarded the golden apples
of the sunset.
The Spirit in Milton's
Comus tells of
. . . the gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters
three
Tliat sing about tlie golden tree.
Along the crisped shades and
Revels the spnice and jocund
Spring ;
f Orithyia. The Graces and the rosy-bosomed
Thither all their bounties bring.
There eternal Summer dwells.
And west winds with musky wing
About the cedam alleys fling
Nard and cassia's balmy smells.
Iris there with humid bow
Wateis the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can shew.
And Tennyson taking the lines as a text has written the melodious
and mystic song of the Hesperides, beginning — ■
The golden apple, the golden apple, the hallowed fruit.
Guard it well, guard it warily.
Singing airily.
Standing about the charmed root.
Round about all is mute.
As the snowfield on the mountain-peaks,
As the sandfield at the mountain-foot
Crocodiles in briny creeki
THE GODS OF HEAVEN 41
Sleep and stir not : all is mute.
If ye sing not, if ye make false measure,
We shall lose eternal pleasure.
Worth eternal want of rest.
Laugh not loudly: watch the treasure
Of the wisdom of the West.
Readers of this poem will notice that Tennyson follows the
tradition by which a sleepless dragon is introduced among the
guardians of the Hesperian fniit. Still other versions substitute
for Hesperus, the Titan Atlas.
12, Various Other Personifications. The constellation Orion,
whose story will be narrated ; Victoria (Nike), the goddess of
Victory ; Discors (Eris), the goddess of Strife ; and Iris, goddess
of the rainbow, who is represented frequently as a messenger of
the gods.
Fiu a. Iris carrying Chilp
CHAPTER III
THE GODS OF EARTH*
39. Conception of the World. The Greek poets believed the
earth to be flat and circular. In their opinion their own country
occupied the middle
of it, and the central
point was either Mount
Olympus, the abode of
the gods, or Delphi,
famous for its oracle.
The circular disk of the
earth was crossed from
west to east and divided
into two equal parts by
the Sea, as they called
the Mediterranean and
its continuation the
Euxine, the only seas
with which they were
acquainted. Around
the earth flowed Kiver
Ocean, from south to
north on the western
side, in a contrary direc-
tion on the eastern. It
flowed in a steady, equa-
ble current, unvexed by
storm or tempest. The
sea and all the rivers on earth received their waters from it.
The northern portion of the earth was inhabited by the Hy-
perboreans, dwelling in bliss and everlasting spring beyond the
' Pot rcferencca to poetiy md worlu of ut, lec corretponding lectiotu in
Demeter of Knidos
r
THE GODS OF EARTH
43
mountains whose caverns sent forth the piercing blasts of the
north wind. Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They
lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. " I
come" sings one of them,^ —
1 come from a land in the 8un-bright deep,
Where golden gardens glow,
Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,
Their conch-shells never blow.
On the south side of the earth, close to the stream of Ocean,
dwelt the Ethiopians, whom the gods held in such favor that they
left at times the Olympian abodes
to partake of the Ethiopian sacri-
fices and banquets. On the west
em margin of the earth, by the
stream of Ocean, lay the Elysian
Plain, where certain mortals en
joyed an immortality of bliss
The Dawn, the Sun, and the
Moon were supposed to rise out of
Ocean on the eastern side and to
drive through the air, giving light
to gods and men. The stars, also,
except those forming the Warn or
Bear and others near them, rose
out of and sank into the stream
of Ocean. There the sun god
embarked in a winged boat, which
conveyed him by the northern part
of the earth back to his place of
rising in the east.
40. Ceres (Demeter), the god
dess of sowing and reaping, of
harvest festivals, and of agriculture in general, was sister of Jupiter
and daughter of Cronus and Rhea, She is connected through her
daughter Proserpine, queen of Hades, with the holy ceremonies and
o Thomas Moore'i Song of a Hyperborean.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^P44
^H rites of death and of the lower world. Of the institutions founded
^B or favored by her the most important were the mysteries celebrated
^H at Eleusis, concerning which we know that, in the presence of indi-
^1 jsisa. viduals initiated in the secret ritual and
^V m^^^ perhaps with their cooperation, scenes
were enacted which represented the
alternation of death and life in nature
and, apparently, forecast the resurrec-
tion and immortality of man. Sacred
to Ceres and to Proserpine were golden
sheaves of corn and soporific poppies ;
while, among animals, cows, sheep, and
pigs were acceptable to them.
41. Gsebl (Ge), the Mother Earth,
wife of Uranus, belongs to the older
order of gods ; so also, another god-
dess of the earth, Rhea, the wife of
Cronus and mother of Jupiter. In
Phrygia, Rhea became identified with
Cybele, whose worship, as mother of
the gods, was at a later period intro-
duced into Rome. The Greek mother,
Rhea, was attended by the Curetes ; the
• Phrygian mother by the Corybantes,
who celebrated her orgies with enthusiastic din of trumpets, drums,
and cymbals. Cybele presided over mountain fastnesses and forti-
fied places.
42. Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of wine, was the son of Jupiter
and Semele, daughter of Cadmus of Thebes. He was especially
• the god of animal life and vegetation, He represented not only
the intoxicating power of wine but its social and beneficent influ-
ences, and was looked upon as a promoter of civilization, a law-
giver, and a lover of peace. His forehead was crowned with vine
leaves or ivy. He rode upon the tiger, the panther, or the lynx,
or was drawn by them in a car. His worshipers were Bacchanals,
I or Bacchantes. He was attended by Satyrs and Sileni and by
I women called Maenads, who, as they danced and sang, vraved in
THE GODS OF EARTH 45
the air the thyrsus, a staff entwined with ivy and surmounted by
a pine cone. Ordinarily, as in the following verses by Diyden, the
convivial qualities of the god overshadow all the rest :
The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung,
Of Bacchus ever fair, and ever young.
' ' , The jolly god in triumph comes ;
Sound the trumpets, beat the drums;
Flushed with a puiple grace
He shows his honest face :
i Now give the hautboys breath ; he comes, he comes.
' Bacchus, ever fair and young.
Drinking joys did first ordain ;
. Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure ;
Rich the treasure,
Sweet the pleasure,
' Sweet is pleasure after pain.'
43. The Lesser Divinities of Earth were :
1. Pan, son of Mercury and a wood-nymph or
Diyad. He was the god of woods and fields, of
flocks and shepherds. He dwelt in caves, wandered
on the mountains and in valleys, amused himself
with the chase, led the dances of the Diyads,
and made love to them. But his suit was fre-
quently of no avail, for though good-natured he
was not prepossessing ; his hoofs and horns did
not enhance his comeliness. He was fond of
music and was himself inventor of the syrinx,
or shepherd's pipe, which he played in a masterly
manner. Like other gods who dwelt in forests,
he was dreaded by those whose occupations caused "^' h„[,t^r^^"
them to pass through the woods by night; for
gloom and loneliness oppress and appall the mind. Hence sudden
unreasonable fright was ascribed to Pan and called a Panic terror.
2. The Nymphs. Pan's partners in the dance, the Dryads,
were but one of several classes of nymphs. There were, beside
' From AleiBiider'B Feait.
46
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
them, the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottoes ; and the
Water-Nymphs, who are mentioned in later sections.
3. The Satyrs y deities of the woods and fields. In early art
they appear as bearded creatures with snub noses, goats' ears, and
horses' tails. Later they resemble youths, sometimes with sprout-
ing horns. The goat-legged satyr is found in Roman poetry.
Fig. 33. A Satyr
CHAPTER IV
THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD^
44. The Underworld was the region of darkness inhabited by
the spirits of the dead and governed by Pluto (Hades) and Proser-
pina, his queen. According to the Iliad, this realm lay ** beneath
the secret places of the earth." ^ And from the Odyssey we gather
that it is not in the bowels of the earth, but on the under side at the
limits of the known world, across the stream Oceanus, where is a
waste shore, the land of the Cimmerians, shrouded in mist and
cloud, never lighted by the sun ** neither when he climbs up the
starry heavens nor when again he turns earthward from the firma-
ment." ^ From that land one goes beside the stream till he reaches
the dank house of Hades. The realm of darkness is bounded by
awful rivers : the Styx, sacred even among the gods, for by it they
sealed their oaths, and the Acheron, river of woe, — with its trib-
utaries, Phlegethon, river of fire, and Cocytus, river of wailing.
Hither past the White Rock, which perhaps symbolizes the bleach-
ing skeletons of the dead, and past the gates of the sun, it is the
duty of Hermes (Mercury) to conduct the outworn ghosts of mor-
tals. One of the Greek dramatists, Sophocles, tells us that this
shore of death is ** down in the darkling west." * In later poems we
read that Charon, a grim boatman, received the dead at the River
of Woe, and ferried them across, if the money requisite for their
passage had been placed in their mouths and their bodies had been
duly buried in the world above.^ Otherwise he left them gibbering
on the hither bank. The abode of Pluto is represented as wide-gated
and thronged with guests. At the gate Cerberus, a three-headed,
THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD
49
Fig 35 Hermes
serpent-tailed dog, lay on guard, — friendly to the spirits enter-
ing, but inimical to those who would depart. The palace itself
is dark and gloomy,
set in the midst of un
canny fields haunted
by strange apparitions
The groves of somber
trees about the palace
— the meads of As
phodel, barren or, at
best, studded with
futile bushes and pale
flowered weeds, where
wander the shades, —
and the woods along
the waste shore " of
tall poplars and willows
that shed their fruit before the season" are, without any particular
discrimination, celebrated by the poets as the Garden of Prosetfine.
Here life has death for neighbor,
And far from eye or ear
Wan waves and wet winds labor,
Weak ships and spirits steer ;
They drive adrift, and whither
They wot not who make thither ;
But no such winds blow hither.
And no such things grow here.
No growth of moor or coppice,
No heather*flower or vine,
But bloomless buds of poppies.
Green grapes of Proserpine,
Fale beds of blowing rushes,
Where no leaf blooms or blushes
Save this whereout she crushes
For dead men deadly wine.
Pale, beyond fwrch and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hantls ;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love's, who fears to greet her,
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands^
She waits for each and other.
She waits for all men born ;
Forgets the earth her mother,
The life of fruits and com ;
And spring and seed and swallow
Take wing for her and follow
Where summer song rings hollow,
And flowers are put to scorn.
We are not sure of sorrow,
And Joy was never sure ;
To-day will die to-morrow ;
Time stoops to no man's lure;
And love, grown faint and fretful,
With lips but half regretful
Sighs, and with eyes forgetful
Weeps that no loves endure.
From too much love of living.
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives forever ;
That dead men rise up never \
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
Then star nor sun shall waken,
Nor any change of light;
Nor sound of waters shaken,
Nor any sound or sight ;
Nor wintry leaves nor vernal.
Nor days nor things diurnal :
Only the sleep eternal
In an eternal night.*
' From The Garden of Pro>erpioe, by A. C. Swinburne.
THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD
51
45. Tartarus and the Elysian Fields. With the ^osts of Hades
the living might but rarely communicate, and only through certain
oracles of the dead, situate by cavernous spots and sheer al^sms,
deep and melancholy streams, and baleful marshes. These naturally
seemed to afford access to the world below, which with the later
poets, such as Virgil, comes to be regarded as under the ground.
One of these descents to the Underworld was near Taenarum.in
Laconia ; another, near Cumse in Italy, was Lake Avemus, so foul
in its exhalations that, as its name portends, no bird could fly across
it.^ Before the judges of the
lower world, — Minos, .lEacus,
and Rhadamanthus, — the souls
of the dead were brought to trial.
The condemned were assigned to
regions where all manner of tor-
ment awaited them at the hands
of monsters dire, — the fifty-
headed Hydra and the avenging
Fifries, Some evildoers, such as
the Titans of old, were doomed to
languish in the gulf of Tartarus
immeasurably below. But the
souls of the guiltless passed to
the Elysian Fields, where each
followed the chosen pursuit of
Fig. 37. A Furv
his former life in a land of spring, sunlight, happiness, and song.
And by the Fields there flowed the river Lethe, from which the
souls of those that were to return to the earth in other bodies
drank oblivion of their former lives.
46. The Islands of the Blest. Homer mentions, elsewhere, an
Elysium of the western seas, which is a happy land, " where life is
easiest for men : no snow is there, nor yet great storm, nor any
rain ; but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill
West to blow cool on men," ^ Hither favored heroes pass without
dying, and live under the happy rule of Rhadamanthus. The
Elysium of Hesiod and Pindar is likewise in the Western Ocean,
>j£neid, 6. 1 Odyuey, 4, j6i.
52 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
on the Islands of the Blessed, the Fortunate Isles. From this
dream of a western Elysium may have sprung the legend of the
island Atlantis. That blissful region may have been wholly imag-
inary. It is, however, not impossible that the myth had its origin
in the reports of storm-driven mariners who had caught a glimpse
of occidental lands. In these Islands of the Blest, the Titans,
released from Tartarus after many years, dwelt under the golden
sway of the white-haired Cronus.^
There was no heavy heat, no cold,
The dwellers there wax never old,
Nor wither with the waning time,
But each man keeps that age he had
When first he won the fairy clime.
The night falls never from on high,
Nor ever bums the heat of noon ;
But such soft light eternally
Shines, as in silver dawns of June
Before the sun hath climbed the sky 1
All these their mirth and pleasure made
Within the plain Elysian,
The fairest meadow that may be.
With all green fragrant trees for shade,
And every scented wind to fan,
And sweetest flowers to strew the lea ;
The soft winds are their servants fleet
To fetch them every fruit at will
And water from the river chill ;
And every bird that singeth sweet,
Throstle, and merle, and nightingale,
Brings blossoms from the dewy vale, —
Lily, and rose, and asphodel, —
With these doth each guest twine his crown
And wreathe his cup, and lay him down
Beside some friend he loveth well.*
47. Pluto (Hades) was brother of Jupiter. To him fell the sov-
ereignty of the lower world and the shades of the dead. In his
character of Hades, the viewless, he is hard and inexorable.
^ Ues. Works and Days, 169. * From The Fortuoato Islands, by Andrew Lang.
THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD
53
By virtue of the helmet or cap given him by the Cyclopes, he
moved hither and yon, dark, unseen, — hated of mortals. He was,
however, lord not only of all that descends to the bowels of the
earth, but of all that proceeds from the earth ; and in the latter
aspect he was revered as Pliito, or '^IT^ givj-r pf inealthr At his
pleasure he visited the realms ot day, - — as when he carried off
Proserpina ; occasionally he journeyed to Olympus ; but otherwise
he ignored occurrences in die upper
world, nor did he suffer his subjects,
by returning, to find them out. Mor-
tals, when they called on his name,
beat the ground with their hands and,
averting their faces, sacrificed black
sheep to him and to his queen.
Among the Romans he is known also
as Dis, Orcus, and Tartarus. But
Orcus is rather Death, or the Under-
world, than ruler of the shades.
48. Proserpina (Persephone) wa9,lhe
daughter of Ceres and Jupiter. She was
queen of Hades, — a name applied both
to the ruler of the shades and to his
realm. When she is goddess of spring,
dear to mankind, Proserpina hears a
cornucopia overflowing with flowers,
and revisits the earth in duly recurring
season. But when she is goddess of death, sitting beside Pluto,
she directs the Furies, and, like her husband, is cruel, unyield-
ing, inimical to youth and life and hope. In the story of her
descent to Hades will be found a further account of her attri-
butes and fortunes.
49. The Lesser Divinities of the Dndetworld were :
I. j^cus, Rhadamanthus, and Minos, sons of Jupiter and
judges of the shades in the lower world, ^acus had been during
his earthly life a righteous king of the island of ^Egina. Minos had
been a famous lawgiver and king of Crete. The life of Rhadaman-
thus was not eventful.
54
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
2. The Furies {Erinyes or Eumenides), Alecto, Tisiphone, and
Megasra, bom of the blood of the wounded Uranus. They were
attendants of Proserpina. They punished with the frenzies of
remorse the crimes of those who had escaped from or defied
public justice. The heads of the Furies were wreathed with
serpents.
3. Hecate, a mysterious divinily sometimes identified with Diana
and sometimes with Proserpina. As Diana represents the moonlight
splendor of night, so Hecate represents its darkness and terrors.
She haunted crossroads and graveyards, was the goddess of sorcery
and witchcraft, and wandered by
night, seen only by the dogs whose
barking told of her approach.
4. Sleep, or Somnus (Hypnos),
and Death (Thanatos), sons of
Night.' They dwell in subterra-
nean darkness. The former brings
to mortals solace and fair dreams,
and can lull the shining eyes of
Jove himself ; the latter closes
forever the eyes of men. Dreams,
too, are sons of Night.* They dwell beside their brother Death,
along the Western Sea, Their abode has two gates, — one of
ivory, whence issue false and flattering visions ; the other of horn,
through which true dreams and noble pass to men.*
1 Iliad, 14, 3J1 ; 16, 67a.
3 Odyssey, 24, II i 19, ;6o. iGneid, 6, S93. Ovid, Metam. 11, 593.
* Foe genealogicsl table, see Commentaiy.
CHAPTER V
THE GODS OF THE WATERS'
50. The Older Dynasty. There were two dynasties of the sea.
The Older, which flourished during the rule of Cronus, was founded
by the Titans, Oceanus and Tethys,
from whom sprang three thousand
rivers and ocean-nymphs unnum-
bered. The palace of Oceanus was
beyond the limits of the bountiful
earth,* surrounded by gardens and
all things fair. From ages immemo-
rial another dweller in the glimmer-
ing caves of Ocean was Pontus (the
deep sea or the waterway), who
became, by Mother Earth, father of
Nereus. This Nereus, a genial old
man of the sea, was distinguished
for his prophetic gifts, his knowl-
edge, his love of truth and justice.
Taking to wife one of the daughters
of Oceanus, the nymph Doris, he
was blessed with a family of fif^ fair
daughters, the Nereids^ Of these
daughters the most famous are
Panope, Galatea, Thetis, and Amphitrite ; the last of whom gave
her hand to Neptune (Poseidon), brother of Jove, and thus united
the Older and the Younger dynasties of the sea.
51. Of the Tonnger Dynasty of the waters Neptune and
Ati^kitrite were the founders. Neptune's palace was in the
Fig. 40. PosEiix
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
depths of the sea, near Alga: in
Eubcea ; but he made his home
on Olympus when he chose. The
symbol of his power was the
trident, or three-pronged spear,
with which he could shatter rocks,
call forth or subdue storms, and
shake the shores of earth. He
created the horse and was the
patron of horse races. His own
steeds were brazen-hoofed and
golden-maned. They drew his
chariot over the sea, which be-
came smooth before him, while
dolphins and other monsters of
the deep gamlx>led about his
path. In his honor black and
white bulls, white boars, and rams
were sacrificed.
52. The Lesser Divinities of
the Waters ^ were :
1. Trilofi, the son of Nep-
tune and Araphitrite, trumpeter
of Ocean. By his blast on the
sea-shell he stirred or allayed the
waves,
2. Proteiis, an attendant and,
according to certain traditions, a
son of Neptune. Like Nereus,
he was a little old man of the
sea. He possessed the prophetic
gift and the power of changing
his shape at will.
3. Thf Harpies, foul creatures,
with heads of maidens, bodies,
wings, and claws of birds, and
A
THE GODS OF THE WATERS
57
faces pale with hunger. They are the offspring of Thaumas, a
son of Pontus and Gsea.
4. The uncanny offspring of Phorcys and Ceto, ~- children of
Pontus, — who rejoiced in the horrors of the sea :
a. The Graa, three hoary witches, with one eye between them
which they used in turn.
b. The Gorgons, whose glance was icy death.
c. The Sirens, muses of the sea and^of death, who by their
sweet singing enticed seafarers to destruction.
d. Scylla, also destructive to mariners, a six-headed monster
whose lower limbs were serpents and ever-barking dogs.
Fig. 42. Triton
5. Atlas, who stood in the far west, bearing on his shoulders the
vault of heaven. He was once regarded as a divinity of the sea, but
later as a mountain. He was the son of lapetus and the father of
three classes of nymphs, — the Pleiads, the Hyads, and, according
to some stories, the Hesperids. The last-mentioned, assisted by
their mother Hesperis and a dragon, guarded the golden apples of
the tree that had sprung up to grace the wedding of Jove and Juno.
The daughters of Atlas were not themselves divinities of the sea.
58 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
6. The Water-Nymphs, Beside the Oceanids and the Nereids^
who have already been mentioned, of most importance were the
Naiads^ daughters of Jupiter. They presided over brooks and foun-
tains. Other lesser powers of the Ocean were Glaucus, Leucothea,
and Melicertes, of whom more is said in another section.
In the following statement of the difference between ancient
and modem conceptions of nature, the poet lends new charm to
the fabled rulers of the sea.
^
The world is too much with us ; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers :
Little we see in Nature that is ours ;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And. are upgathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune ;
It njoves us not. — Great God ! I 'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn ;
So might I, standing on 'this pleasant lea.
Have glimpsdfe that would make me less forlorn :
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea ;
^Or hear old*Triton blow his wreathed hom.^
1 Wordsworth, Miscellaneous Sonnets.
CHAPTER VI
THE ROMAN DIVINITIES
53. Gods Common to Greece and Italy. Of the deities already
mentioned, the following, although they were later identified with
certain Greek gods and goddesses^ whose characteristics and
adventures they assumed, had developed an independent worship
in Italy : Jupiter (Zeus) ; Juno (Hera) ; Minerva (Athene) ; Diana
(Artemis) ; Mars (Ares) ; Venus (Aphrodite) ; Vulcanus, or Mul-
ciber (Hephaestus) ; Vesta (Hestia) ; Mercurius (Hermes) ; Nep-
tunus (Poseidon) ; Ceres (Demeter) ; Liber (Bacchus) ; Libera
(Persephone) ; Magna Mater, the great mother of the gods (Rhea,
Cybele) ; Orcus (Pluto, Hades) ; Teilus, the Earth (Gaea).
54. Italian Gods. There were also divinities always peculiar to
Roman m)rthology.2 Of these the more important are :
I. SaturHy an ancient Italian deity (as his name indicates) of
seeds and sowing, the introducer of agriculture. Fanciful attempts
were made to identify him with the Grecian god Cronus ; and it
was fabled that after his dethronement by Jupiter he fled to Italy,
where he reigned during the Golden Age. In memory of his
dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter
season. Then all public business was suspended ; declarations of
war and criminal executions were postponed ; friends made pres-
ents to one another; and even slaves were indulged with great
liberties. A feast was given them at which they sat at table while
their masters served, to show the natural equality of men, and
that all things belonged equally to all in the reign of Saturn.
The wife of Saturn was OpSy goddess of sowing and harvest (later
confounded with Rhea). Another Roman deity of earth was
CansuSy whose name means ** the keeper of the stores." He is the
1 Names of the corresponding Greek divinities are in parentheses.
S For illustrative material, see Commentary.
59
6o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
god of the stored-up harvest ; and his altar is said to have been dis-
covered underground by Romulus. It was in the Circus Maximus
and was uncovered only on the days of his festivals, the harvest
home of August and the granary feast of December. The under-
ground altar is a reminiscence of the ancient custom of storing corn
underground or at any rate of burying the sacrifices offered to deities
of the earth. The harvest festival was celebrated with horse races,
which, originating in a very simple way with the primitive farmers,
twcame in time the distinctive feature Of the Circus Maxtmus.
2 Janus, whose name is denved from the Latin root which
means gomg and is connected with janua, a passage or door,
IS the most distmctive and most important of
the native Italic deities He is not only the
god of doors, or material openings, but more
truly of beginnings — especially of good be-
ginnings which insure good endings. Hence
undoubtedly he is represented as facing both
ways ; for the Romans very properly believed
that beginning and ending were of the same
^"^ ^jAN^u""^^'* piece, and that an undertaking ill begun
could not achieve success. His temple, or
covered passage, in the Forum had doors facing east and west for
the beginning and ending of the day ; and between stood his two-
faced statue. In eveiy home the morning prayer was addressed to
him ; in every domestic enterprise his assistance was implored. He
was the god, also, of the opening year ; hence his month, JanuaryJ^
on the first day of which words only of good omen were uttered,
and gifts were given (strenae, a name still preserved in the French
word for New Year's presents, ^trennes), and, for good luck, some
stroke of work was bestowed on every undertaking planned for
the year. He was publicly invoked not only on New Year's day,
but on the first day of each month, by priests and people alike ;
and in these prayers his name was mentioned even before that of
Jupiter. He is the god of civilization, and is sometimes called
Consivius, or the Sower.^ Of course he was invoked when wars
were commenced. And during their progress the doors of his
1 Gelliui, 5, 11. Ovid, Fuli, I, 179. Macrobiut, Sm. 1, 9-15.
THE ROMAN DIVINITIES 6 1
temple stood always open. In peace they were closed ; but they
were shut only once between the reign of Numa and that of
Augustus. It was natural that his worship should gradually absorb
that of Sol, the Sun, who opens the day and completes the year and
blesses with his rays the seeds that are sown ; and such was the
case. But Janus and his wife Jana were not originally connected
even in name with Dianus (Sol, Apollo) and Diana (the moon).
3. Quirinus, a war-god, said to be no other than Romulus, the
founder of Rome, exalted after his death to a place among the
immortals.
4. Bellonay a war-goddess.
5. LucinUy the goddess who brings to light, hence the goddess
of childbirth : a title bestowed upon both Juno and Diana.
6. Terminus, the god of landmarks. His statue was a rude
stone or post, set in the ground to mark the boundaries of fields.
7. Faunus, the grandson of Saturn. He was worshiped as a
god of fields and shepherds and also of prophecy. His name in
the plural, Fauni, expressed a class of gamesome deities, like the
Satyrs of the Greeks. There was also a goddess called Fauna, or
Bona Dea (good goddess). To Maia, wife of Vulcan, this desig-
nation. Bona Dea, was sometimes applied.
8. Sylvanus, presiding over forest-glades and plowed fields.
9. Pales, the goddess presiding over cattle and pastures. Flora,
the goddess of flowers. Pomona, presiding over fruit trees. Ver-
tumnus, the husband of Pomona, was guardian of fruit trees,
gardens, and vegetables.
Pomona loves the orchard,
And Liber loves the vine,
And Pales loves the straw-built shed
Warm with the breath of kine ;
And Venus loves the whisper
Of plighted youth and maid
In April's ivory moonlight,
Beneath the chestnut shade.^
10. The Penates, gods who were supposed to attend to the
welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from
1 From Macaulay's Prophecy of Capys.
63
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Penus, the storehouse or inner chamber, which was sacred to
them. Every master of a family was the priest to the Penates of
his own house.
The Lares, or Lars, were also tutelary deities, but they differed
from the Penates since they were regarded as the deified spirits
of ancestors, who watched over and protected their descendants.
The Lares were more particularly divinities presiding over the
household or family ; but there were also public Lares, or guardian
spirits of the city, Lares of the precincts, Lares of the fields. Lares
of the highways, and Lares of the sea. To the Penates, to the
domestic Lares {whose images were preserved in a private shrine),
and to the Manes (shades that
hovered over the place of
burial), the family prayers of
the Romans were addressed.
Other spirits, the Lemures and
Larv<e,moxe nearly correspond
The Romans believed that
every man had his Genius and
every woman her Juno ; that
is, a spirit who had given them
being and was regarded as
a protector through life. On
birthdays men made offerings to their Genius, women to their Juno.
1 1 . Other Italian deities were the gods of the rivers, such as
Father Tiber, and the goddesses of the springs and brooks, such as
Jzituma, whose pool in the Forum was sacred. This nymph was
also a goddess of healing and, according to later tradition, was
beloved by Jupiter, Earlier stories, however, make her the wife
of Janus and the mother of Fontus, the god of flowing waters,
who had an altar on the Janiculan hill and was worshiped at an
annual festival called the Fontinalia, when the wells were wreathed
with garlands. Held in especial honor were the Camena, fountain-
nymphs, goddesses of prophecy and healing (later identified with
the Muses). The leader of them was Carmenta, who sang both the
future and the past. With her is sometimes associated the nymph
THE ROMAN DIVINITIES 63
IgeriUy from whom the Roman king Numa is said to have received
iction concerning the forms of worship which he introduced.
12. The Romans worshiped, also, Soly the Sun; Lunay the
[oon ; Mater Matuta, the Dawn ; Juventus, Youth ; Fides,
[onesty ; Feroniay goddess of groves and freedmen ; and a great
lumber of personified abstractions of conduct and experience,
ich as Fortune and Health.
Many of these Latin divinities were derived from the earlier
tult and ritual of the Etruscan inhabitants of Italy.
t
/
CHAPTER VII
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HE,
55 ityths of Jupiter and Juno Not a few of the :
of Jupiter turn upon his love affairs Among the imn
queen had rivals m his affection for instance, Latona,
of darkness daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phcebe.
dess became as we have already seen the mother of I
Diana The ire of Ju
her \ as never appi
consequence of it,
trials were visited up
some of which fim
among the adventui
children,
56 Love Affairs i
Not only with imn
with mortals were Ji
lations sometimes of
character. His devo
beautiful daughters i
volved him in freqi
cations with his jus
spouse Of his fondness for Danae whom he appros
shower of gold particulars are given in the story of he
seus of his love for Alcmene the granddaughter of ths
we are informed in the mjths of her son Hercules; ;
attentions to Leda whom he wooed m guise of a swan
in the accounts of their children Pollux and Helen. (
passages upon which narratives depend, concern lo
Europa Semele .^Egina and Antiope
64
Fig 45 Ganv.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 65
57. lo^ was of divine ancestry. Her father was the river-god
Inachus, son of Oceanus. It is said that Juno one day, perceiving
the skies suddenly overcast, surmised that her husband had raised
a cloud to hide some escapade. She brushed away the darkness
and saw him on the banks of a glassy river with a beautiful heifer
standing near. Juno suspected, with reason, that the heifer's form
concealed some fair nymph of mortal mold. It was lo, whom
Jupiter, when he became aware of the approach of his wife, had
changed into that form.
The ox-eyed goddess joined her husband, noticed the heifer,
praised its beauty, and asked whose it was and of what herd.
Jupiter, to stop questions,
replied that it was a fresh
creation from the earth.
Juno begged it as a gift.
What could the king of
and men do ? He
i loath to surrender his
iieart to his wife ; yet
refuse so trifling a
lent as a heifer ? He could not, without exciting suspicion,
, he therefore consented. The goddess delivered the heifer
to Argus, to be strictly watched.
Now Argus had a hundred eyes in his head, and never went
to sleep with more than two at a time, so that he kept watch of
lo constantly. He suffered her to graze through the day and at
1 rope round her neck. She would have stretched out
) implore freedom of Argus, but that she had no arms
t and her voice was a bellow. She yearned in vain
^herself known to her father. At length she bethought
herself of writing, and inscribed her name — it was a short one —
with her hoof on the sand. Inachus recognized it, and, discover-
ing that his daughter whom he had long sought in vain was hidden
under this disguise, mourned over her. While he thus lamented,
Argus, observing, drove her away and took his seat on a bank
rom whence he could see in every direction.
1
:, 46. H:
,0 sleep with n'
[o constantly.
nigl^^^Ha ro|
lier ^^Ho im]
:o s^K^ffk a
:o ^^^^herseL
ree
■I'HE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
Jupiter, grieved by the sufferings of his mistress, sent Mercury
to dispatch Argus. Mercury took his sleep- producing wand and
presented himself on earth as a shepherd driving his flock. As
he strolled, he blew upon his syrinx or Pandean pipes. Argus
listened with delight. " Young man," said he, " come and take a
t by me on this stone. There is no better place for your flock
to graze in than hereabouts, and here is a pleasant shade such as
shepherds love," Mercury sat down, talked, told stories till it
grew late, and played upon
his pipes his most soothing
strains, hoping to lull the
watchful eyes to sleep, but
in vain ; for Argus still
contrived to keep some of
his eyes open, though he
shut the rest.
But among other stories,-.
Mercury told him how the ir(--'
strument on which he played
was invented. " There wa^
a certain nymph," said heii
"whose name was Syrinx, —
much beloved by the sa^rs
and spirits of the wood. She
would have none of them,
but was a faithful worshiper
of Diana and followed the chase. Pan, meeting her one day,
wooed her with many compliments, likening her to Diana of the
silver bow. Without stopping to hear him she ran away. But on
the bank of the river he oveitook her. She called for help on her
friends, the water-nymphs. They heard and consented. Fan threw
his arms around what he supposed to be the form of the nymph and
found he embraced only a tuft of reeds. As he breathed a sigh, the
air sounded through the reeds and produced a plaintive melody.
Whereupon the god, charmed with the novelty and with the
sweetness of the music, said, ' Thus, then, at least, you shall be
mine.' Taking some of the reeds of unequal lengths and placing
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 67
them together, side by side, he made an instrument and called it
Syrinx, in honor of the nymph." Before Mercury had finished his
story he saw the eyes of Argus all asleep. At once he slew him and
set lo free. The eyes of Argus Juno took and scattered as orna-
ments on the tail of her peacock, where they remain to this day.
But the vengeance of Juno was not yet satiated. She sent a
gadfly to torment lo, who, in her flight, swam through the sea,
named after her, Ionian. Afterward, roaming over many lands,
she reached at last the banks of the Nile. Then Jupiter interceded
for her ; and upon his engaging not to pay her any further atten-
tion, Juno consented to restore her to her form.
In a poem dedicated to Leigh Hunt, by Keats, the following
allusion to the story of Pan and Syrinx occurs :
So did he feel who pulled the boughs aside,
That we might look into a forest wide, . . .
Telling us how fair trembling Syrinx fled
Arcadian Pan, with such a fearful dread.
Poor nymph — poor Pan — how he did weep to find
Nought but a lovely sighing of the wind
Along the reedy stream ; a half-heard strain.
Full of sweet desolation, balmy pain.
58. Callisto of Arcadia was another maiden who excited the
jealousy of Juno. Her the goddess changed into a bear. Often,
frightened by the dogs, Callisto, though lately a huntress, fled in
terror from the hunters. Often, too, she fled from the wild beasts,
forgetting that she was now a wild beast herself ; and, bear as she
was, she feared the bears.
One day a youth espied her as he was hunting. She saw him
and recognized him as her son Areas, grown to manhood. She
stopped and felt inclined to embrace him. He, alarmed, raised
his hunting spear and was on the point of transfixing her, but
Jupiter arrested the crime and, snatching away both of them,
placed them in the heavens as the Great and Little Bear.
Juno, enraged at seeing her rival so set in honor, hastened to
ancient Tethys and Oceanus and, complaining that she was sup-
planted- in Heaven, cried, *' So do my punishments result — such
is the extent of my power ! I forbade her to wear human form.
68 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
— she and her hateful son are placed among the stars. Better
that she should have resumed her former shape, as I permitted lo
to do. Perhaps my husband means to take her to wife, and put
me away ! But you, my foster parents, if you feel for me, and see
with displeasure this unworthy treatment of me, show it, I beseech
you, by forbidding this guilty couple from coming into your waters.''
The powers of the Ocean assented, and consequently the two con-
stellations of the Great and Little Bear move round and round in
the neighborhood of the pole, but never sink, as do the other
stars, beneath the Ocean.^
59. Europa was the daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia,
son of the god Neptune. The story of Jupiter's love for her is
thus told by the idyllic poet, Moschus :
To Europa, princess of Asia, once on a time, a sweet dream was sent by
Cypris. . . . Then she beheld two continents at strife for her sake, Asia and
the further shore, both in the shape of women. Of these one had the guise
of a stranger, the other of a lady of that land, and closer still she clung about
her maiden, and kept saying how she was her mother, and herself had nursed
Europa. But that other with mighty hands, and forcefully, kept haling the
maiden, nothing loth; declaring that, by the will of aegis-bearing Jupiter,
Europa was destined to be hei prize.
But Europa leaped forth from ner strown bed in terror, with beating heart,
in such clear vision had she beheld the dream, . . . And she said, " Ah ! who
was the alien woman that I beheld in my sleep ? How strange a longing for
her seized my heart, yea, and how graciously she herself did welcome me, and
regard me as it had been her own child ! Ye blessed gods, I pray you, prosper
the fulfillment of the dream ! "
Therewith she arose, and began to seek the dear maidens of her company,
girls of like age with herself, boi^i in the same year, beloved of her heart, the
daughters of noble sires, with whom she was always wont to sport, when she
was arrayed for the dance, or when she would bathe her bright body at the
mouths of the rivers, or would gather fragrant lilies on the leas. . . .
Now the girls, so soon as they were come to the flowering meadows, took great
delight in various sorts of flowers, whereof one would pluck sweet-breathed
narcissus, another the hyacinth, another the violet, a fourth the creeping
thyme ; and on the ground there fell many petals of the meadows rich with
spring. Others, again, were emulously gathering the fragrant tresses of the
yellow crocus ; but in the midst of them all the princess culled with her hand
1 Ovid, Metam. 2, 410 et seq.
W MYTHS OF THE GRE.\T DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 69
the splendor o£ the crimson rose, and shniie preeminent among them all like
the foam-bom goddess among the Graces. Verily, she was not for long lo set
her heart's delight upon the flowers, . , . For of a truth, the son of Cronus,
so soon as he beheld her, was troubled, and his heart was subdued by the
sudden shafts of Cypris, who alone can conquer even Jupiter, Therefore, both
to avoid the wrath of jealous Juno, and being eager to beguile the maiden's
tender heart, he concealed his godhead, and changed his shape, and became a
bull. . . .
He came into the meadow, and his coming terrified not the maidens, nay,
within them all wakened desire m draw nigh the lovely bull, and to touch
him, and his heavenly fra-
grance was scattered afar,
exceeding even the sweet
perfume of the meadows.
And he stood before the
feet of fair Europa, and
kept licking her neck,
and cast his spell over
the maiden, And she still
caressed him, and guntly
with her hands she wiped
away the deep foam from his lips, and kissed the bull. Then he lowed so
gently, ye would think ye heard the Mygdonian flute uttering a dulcet sound.
He bowed himself before her feet, and bending back his neck, he gazed on
Europa, and showed her his broad back. Then she spake among her deep-
tressed maidens, saying, —
" Come, dear playmates, maidens of like age with me, let us mount Che bull
here and take our pastime, for, truly, he will bear us on his hack, and carry all
of us I And how mild he is, and dear, and gentle to behold, and no whit hke
other bulls I A mind as honest as a man's possesses him, and he lacks nothing
but sp>eech."
So she spake, and smiling, she sat down on the back of the bull, and the
others were about to follow her. But the bull leaped up immediately, now he
had gotten her that he desired, and swifdy he sped to the deep. The maiden
turned, and called again and again to her dear playmates, stretching out her
hands, but they could not reach her. The strand he gained, and forward he
sped like a dolphin, faring with unwetted hooves over the wide waves. And
as he came, grew smooth, and the sea monsters gamboled around,
efore the feet of Jupiter; and the dolphin rejoiced, and rising from the deeps,
E tumbled on the swell of the sea. The Nereids arose ou^f the salt water,
i all of them came on in orderly array, riding on the ban of sea beasts,
knd himself, the thunderous shaker of the world, appeared aaS^ the sea, and
\1°
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
■ 70
^^K made smooth the wave, and guided his brother on the salt sea path, and round
^^m him were gathered the Tritons, these hoarse trumpeters of the deep, blowing
^H from their long conchs a bridal melody.
^H Meanwhile, Europa, riding on the back of the divine bull, with one hand
^K dasped the beast's great horn, and with the other caught up the purple fold
^^P of her garment, lest it might trail and be wet in the hoar sea's infinite spray.
^* And her deep robe was swelled out by the winds, like the sail of a ship, and
^"lightly still did waft the maiden onward. But when she was now far off from
;. 49, Nehei.
her own country, and neither sea-beat headland nor steep hill could now be
L seen, but above, the air, and beneath, the limidess deep, timidly she looked
I around, and uttered her voice, saying, —
" Whither bearest thou me, bull god? What art thou f How dost thou fare
on thy feet through the path of the sea beasts, nor fearest the sea? The sea
is a path meet for swift ships that traverse the brine, but bulls dread the salt
sea ways. What drink is sweet to thee, what food shalt thou find from the deep ?
Nay, art thou then some god, for god-like are these deeds of thine." . . .
So spake she, and the homed bull made answer to her ^ain: "Take
courage, maiden, and dread not the swell of the deep. Behold, I am Jupiter,
even I, though, closely beheld, 1 wear the form of a bull, for 1 can put on the
' semblance of what thing 1 will. But 'tis love of thee that has compelled me
easure out bo great a space of the salt sea, in a bull's shape. So Crete
t shall presently receive thee, Crete that was mine own foster-mother, where thy
I brida! chamber shall be.'
According to tradition, from this princess the continent of
F Europe acquired its name. Her three sons are famous in Greek
1 Tiaiuliiled fay Andrew Lang TlieiKritus, Blon, and Moa<:hu9, London, iSSo.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN
71
myth : Minos, who became king of Crete, and after his death a
judge in the lower world ; Rhadamanthus, who also was regarded
as king and judge in the world of ghosts ; and Sarpedon, who was
ancestor of the Lycians.
The adventures of Europa's brother Cadmus, who by the com-
mand of his father went forth in quest of the lost maiden, fall
under the myths of Mars.'
60. Semele was the daughter
of Cadmus, founder of Thebes.
She was descended, through
both parents, from the gods ;
for her mother Harmonia was
daughter to Mars and the
laughter-loving Venus. To
Semele Jupiter had appeared,
and had paid court in unos-
tentatious manner and simple
guise. But Juno, to gratify her
resentment against this new
rival for her lord's affections,
contrived a plan for her de-
struction. Assuming the form
of Beroe, the aged nurse of
Semele, she insinuated doubts
whether it was indeed love
■■ Jig. 50. Bacchus E
himself who came as a lover.
Heaving a sigh, she said, " I hope it will turn out so, but I can't
help being afraid. People are not always what they pretend to be.
If he is indeed Jove, make him give some proof of it. Ask him
to come arrayed in all his splendors, such as he wears in Heaven,
That will put the matter beyond a doubt." Semele was persuaded
to try the experiment. She asks a favor, without naming what it
is. Jove gives his promise, and confirms it with the irrevocable
oath, attesting the river Styx, terrible to the gods themselves.
Then she made known her request. The god would have stopped
her as she spake, but she was too quick for him. The words
1S70.
72 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
escaped, and he could neither unsay his promise nor her request.
In deep distress he left her and returned to the upper regions.
There he clothed himself in his splendors, not putting on all his
terrors, as when he overthrew the giants, but what is known among
the gods as his lesser panoply. With thunders and lightnings
he entered the chamber of Semele. Her mortal frame could not
endure the splendors of the immortal radiance. She was con-
sumed to ashes.^ Her son was the god Bacchus.^ Semele, in the
blissful seats of Heaven, whither she was transported by the sor-
rowful Jove, has been represented as recounting thus the story of
her doom :
What were the garden-bowers of Thebes to me ?
What cared I for their dances and their feasts,
Whose heart awaited an immortal doom ?
The Greek youths mocked me, since I shunned in scorn
Them and their praises of my brows and hair.
The light girls pointed after me, who turned
Soul-sick from their unending fooleries. . . .
There came a change : a glory fell to me.
No more 't was Semele, the lonely girl,
But Jupiter's Beloved, Semele.
With human arms the god came clasping me :
New life streamed from his presence ; and a voice,
That scarce could curb itself to the smooth Greek,
Now and anon swept forth in those deep nights,
Thrilling my flesh with awe ; mysterious words —
I knew not what ; hints of unearthly things
That I had felt on solemn summer noons.
When sleeping Earth dreamed music, and the heart
Went crooning a low song it could not learn.
But wandered over it, as one who gropes
For a forgotten chord upon a lyre.
Yea, Jupiter ! But why this mortal guise,
Wooing as if he were a milk-faced boy ?
Did I lack lovers ? Was my beauty dulled,
The golden hair turned dross, the lithe limbs shrunk ?
The deathless longings tamed, that I should seethe
My soul in love like any shepherd girl ?
1 Ovid, Metam. 3, 260 et seq, > §§ 42, i lo-i 13.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 73
One night he sware to grant whatever I asked :
And straight I cried, " To know thee as thou art !
To hold thee on my heart as Juno does !
Come in thy thunder — kill me with one fierce
Divine embrace ! — Thine oath ! — Now, Earth, at last ! "
The Heavens shot one swift sheet of lurid flame ;
The world crashed : from a body scathed and torn
The soul leapt through, and found his breast, and died.
Died ? — So the Theban maidens think, and laugh.
Saying, "She had her wish, that Semele ! "
But sitting here upon Olympus' height,
I look downj through that oval ring of stars.
And see the far-off Earth, a twinkling speck —
Dust-mote whirled up from the Sun's chariot wheel —
And pity their small hearts that hold a man
As if he were a god ; or know the god —
Or dare to know him — only as a man !
O human love ! art thou forever blind ? ^
61. ^gina. The extent to which those who were concerned
only indirectly in Jupiter's love affairs might yet be involved in
the consequences of them is illustrated by the fortunes of ^Egina.
This maiden, the daughter of Asopus, a river-god, attracted the
attention of Jupiter, who straightway ran off with her. Now, on
the one hand, Sisyphus, king of Corinth, having witnessed the
intrigue, was indiscreet enough to disclose it. Forthwith the ven-
geance of the king of gods and men fell upon him. He was con-
demned to Hades and, attempting to escape thence, had resort
to a series of deceptions that resulted in his eternal punishment.*
On the other hand, the inhabitants of the island that had the mis-
fortune to bear ^Egina's name incurred the displeasure of Juno, who
devastated their land with a plague. The following account of this
calamity is placed in the mouth of ^Eacus, king of the island : ^
"At the beginning the sky seemed to settle down upon the
earth and thick clouds shut in the heated air. For four months
together a deadly south wind prevailed. The disorder affected the
wells and springs. Thousands of snakes crept over the land and
1 From E. R. Sill's Semele. 2 Commentary, §§ 1 18, 255.
8 Ovid, Metam. 7, 172 et seq.
74 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
shed their poison in the fountains. The force of the disease was
first spent on the lower animals, — dogs, cattle, sheep, and birds.
The oxen fell in the midst of their work. The wool dropped from
the bleating sheep. The horse groaned at his stall and died an
inglorious death. Everything languished ; dead bodies lay in the
roads, the fields, and the woods ; the air was poisoned by them.
Next the disease attacked the country people, and then the dwellers
in the city. At first the cheek was flushed and the breath drawn
with difficulty. The tongue grew rough and swelled, and the dry
mouth stood open, with its veins enlarged, and gasped for the air.
Men could not bear the heat of their clothes or their beds, but
preferred to lie on the bare ground. Nor could the physicians
help, for the disease attacked them also. At last men learned to
look upon death as the only deliverer from disease. All restraint
laid aside, they crowded round the wells and fountains, and drank,
without quenching thirst, till they died. On all sides lay my people
strewn like overripened apples beneath the tree, or acorns under
the storm-shaken oak. You see yonder a temple on the height.
It is sacred to Jupiter. Often, while the priest made ready for
sacrifice, the victim fell, struck down by disease without waiting
for the blow. At length all reverence for sacred things was lost.
Bodies were thrown out unburied, wood was wanting for funeral
piles, men fought with one another for the possession of them.
Finally there were none left to mourn ; sons and husbands, old
men and youths, perished alike unlamented.
'* Standing before the altar, I raised my eyes to Heaven. * O
Jupiter,' I said, ' if thou art indeed my father, give me back my
people, or take me also away ! * At these words a clap of thunder
was heard. * I accept the omen,* I cried. By chance there grew
by the place where I stood an oak with wide-spreading branches,
sacred to Jupiter. I observed on it a troop of ants busy with their
labor. Observing their numbers with admiration, I said, * Give
me, O father, citizens as numerous as these, and replenish my
empty city.' The tree shook, and the branches rustled, though
no wind agitated them. Night came on. The tree stood before
me in my dreams, with its numerous branches all covered with
living, moving creatures, which, falling to the ground, appeared to
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 75
gain in size, and by and by to stand erect, and finally to assume
the human form. Then I awoke. My attention was caught by
the sound of many voices without. While I began to think I was
yet dreaming, Telamon, my son, throwing open the temple gates,
exclaimed, * Father, approach, and behold things surpassing even
your hopes ! ' I went forth ; I saw a multitude of men, such as I
had seen in my dream. While I gazed with wonder and delight,
they approached and, kneeling, hailed me as their king. I paid
my vows to Jove, and proceeded to allot the vacant city to the
new-born race. I called them Myrmidons from the ant {myrmex),
from which they sprang. They are a diligent and industrious race,
eager to gain, and tenacious of their gains."
The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles, the grandson of
King iEacus, in the Trojan War.
62. Antiope was, according to the Odyssey, another daughter
of Asopus, therefore a sister of iEgina. But later poets make
this darling of Jove daughter of Nycteus, king of Thebes. While
she was engaged in the Maenad dances, Jupiter as a satyr wooed
and won her. She bore him two sons, Amphion and Zethus, who,
being exposed at birth on Mount Cithaeron, grew up among the
shepherds, not knowing their parentage. After various adventures
Antiope fell into the hands of her uncle Lycus, the usurping king
of Thebes, who, egged on by his wife Dirce, treated her with
extreme cruelty. Finally, when doomed by Dirce to be dragged
to death behind a bull, Antiope found means to inform her chil-
dren of her kinship to them. As it happened, they had been
ordered to execute the cruel sentence upon their mother. But
with a band of their fellow herdsmen, they attacked and slew
Lycus instead, and, tying Dirce by the hair of her head to a bull,
let her perish by her own device.^
While among the herdsmen, Amphion had been the special care
of Mercury, who gave him a lyre and taught him to play upon it.
His brother Zethus had occupied himself in hunting and tending
the flocks. Amphion himself is one of the most famous of mythi-
cal musicians. Having become king of Thebes, it is said that when
1 Roscher, Ausf. Lex. Lfg. 3, 379 [Schirmer]. Originals in Pausanias, ApoIIodorus, and
Hyginus.
76 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
he played on his lyre, stones moved of their own accord and took
their places in the wall with which he was fortifying the city.
Fig. s;
... 'T is said he had a tuneful tongue,
Such happy intonation,
Wherever he sat down and sung
He left a small plantation ;
Wherever in a lonely grove
He set up his forlorn pipes.
The gouty oak began to move.
And flounder into hornpipes.
The mountain stirred its bushy crown,
And, as tradition teaches,
Young ashes pirouetted down
Coquetting with young beeches ;
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 77
And briony-vine and ivy-wreath
Ran forward to his rhyming,
And from the valleys underneath
Came little copses climbing.
The linden broke her ranks and rent
. The woodbine wreaths that bind her,
And down the middle, buzz ! she went
With all her bees behind her :
The poplars, in long order due.
With cypress promenaded.
The shock-head willows, two and two,
By rivers gallopaded.
Came wet-shot alder from the wave.
Came yews, a dismal coterie ;
Each plucked his one foot from the grave,
Poussetting with a sloe-tree :
Old elms came breaking from the vine.
The vine* streamed out to follow.
And, sweating rosin, plumped the pine
From many a cloudy hollow.
And was n't it a sight to see.
When, ere his song was ended.
Like some great landslip, tree by tree.
The country-side descended ;
And shepherds from the mountain-eaves
Looked down, half-pleased, half-frightened,
As dashed about the drunken leaves
The random sunshine lightened.^
The musician's life was, however, not all harmony and happi-
ness. Owing to the pride of his wife Niobe, daughter of King
Tantalus, there befell him and his house a crushing calamity,
which is narrated among the exploits of Apollo and Diana.
63. Jupiter, a Friend of Man. The kindly interest evinced by
the Thunderer toward mortals is displayed in the story of Baucis
and Philemon. Once on a time Jupiter, in human shape, visited
the land of Phrygia, and with him Mercury, without his wings.
1 From Tennyson's Amphion. See Horace, Ars Poet 394.
78 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
They presented themselves as weary travelers at many a door,
seeking rest and shelter, but found all closed ; for it was late, and
the inhospitable inhabitants would not rouse themselves to open
for their reception. At last a small thatched cottage received them,
where Baucis, a pious old dame, and her husband Philemon had
grown old together. Not ashamed of their poverty, they made it
endurable by moderate desires and kind dispositions. When the
two guests crossed the humble threshold and bowed their heads
to pass under the low door, the old man placed a seat, on which
Baucis, bustling and attentive, spread a cloth, and begged them to
sit down. Then she raked out the coals from the ashes, kindled a
fire, and prepared some pot-herbs and bacon for them. A beechen
bowl was filled with warm water, that their guests might wash.
While all was doing, they beguiled the time with conversation.
The old woman with trembling hand set the table. One leg was
shorter than the rest, but a piece of slate put under restored the
level. When it was steady she rubbed the table down with sweet-
smelling herbs. Upon it she set some of chaste Minerva's olives,
some cornel berries preserved in vinegar, and added radishes and
cheese, with eggs lightly cooked in the ashes. The meal was served
in earthen dishes ; and an earthenware pitcher, with wooden cups,
stood beside them. When all was ready the stew, smoking hot,
was set on the table. Some wine, not of .the oldest, was added,
and for dessert, apples and wild honey.
Now while the repast proceeded, the old folks were astonished
to see that the wine, as fast as it was poured out, renewed itself in
the pitcher of its own accord. Struck with terror, Baucis and
Philemon recognized their heavenly guests, fell on their knees,
and with clasped hands implored forgiveness for their poor enter-
tainment. There was an old goose, which they kept as the guard-
ian of their humble cottage, and they bethought them to make
this a sacrifice in honor of their guests. But the goose, too nimble
for the old folk, with the aid of feet and wings eluded their pur-
suit and at last took shelter between the gods themselves. They
forbade it to be slain, and spoke in these words : ** We are gods.
This inhospitable village shall pay the penalty of its impiety ; you
alone shall go free from the chastisement. Quit your house and
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 79
come with us to the top of yonder hill." They hastened to obey.
The country behind them was speedily sunk in a lake, only their
own house left standing. While they gazed with wonder at the
sight, that old house of theirs was changed. Columns took the
place of the comer posts, the thatch grew yellow and appeared a
gilded roof, the floors became marble, the doors were enriched
with carving and ornaments of gold. Then spoke Jupiter in benig-
nant accents : ** Excellent old man, and woman worthy of such a
husband, speak, tell us your wishes. What favor have you to ask
of us .? " Philemon took counsel with Baucis a few moments, then
declared to the gods their common wish. ** We ask to be priests
and guardians of this thy temple, and that one and the same
hour may take us both from life." Their prayer was granted.
When they had attained a great age, as they stood one day before
the steps of the sacred edifice and were telling the story of the
place, Baucis saw Philemon begin to put forth leaves, and Philemon
saw Baucis changing in like manner. While still they exchanged
parting words, a leafy crown grew over their heads. ** Farewell,
dear spouse," they said together, and at the same moment the
bark closed over their mouths. The Tyanean shepherd still shows
the two trees, — an oak and a linden, standing side by side.^
. The story of Baucis and Philemon has been imitated by Swift
in a burlesque style, the actors in the change being two wandering
saints, and the house being changed into a church, of which
Philemon is made the parson :
. . . They scarce had spoke, when, fair and soft,
The roof began to mount aloft ;
Aloft rose every beam and rafter ;
The heavy wall climbed slowly after.
The chimney widened and grew higher,
Became a steeple with a spire.
The kettle to the top was hoist,
And there stood fastened to a joist.
But with the upside down, to show
Its inclination for below ;
In vain, for a superior force.
Applied ^t bottom, stops its course ;
1 Ovid, Metam. 8, 620-724.
8o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Doomed ever in suspense to dwell,
*T is now no kettle, but a bell.
A wooden jack, which had almost
Lost by disuse the art to roast,
A sudden alteration feels.
Increased by new intestine wheels ;
And, what exalts the wonder more.
The number made. the motion slower;
The flier, though 't had leaden feet.
Turned round so quick you scarce could see 't ;
But slackened by some secret power.
Now hardly moves an inch an hour.
The jack and chimney, near allied.
Had never left each other's side.
The chimney to a steeple grown,
The jack would not be left alone ;
But up against the steeple reared,
Became a clock, and still adhered ;
And still its love to household cares
By a shrill voice at noon declares,
Warning the cook-maid not to burn
That roast meat which it cannot turn.
The groaning chair began to crawl.
Like a huge snail, along the wall ;
There stuck aloft in public view.
And with small change, a pulpit grew.
A bedstead of the antique mode.
Compact of timber many a load.
Such as our ancestors did use.
Was metamorphosed into pews,
Which still their ancient nature keep
By lodging folks disposed to sleep.
64. Juno's Best Gift. What the queen of heaven deemed the
greatest blessing reserved for mortals is narrated in the beautiful
myth of Biton and Cleobis. One Cydippe, an ancient priestess
of the white-armed goddess, had desired to behold the famous
new statue of Hera at Argos. Her sons testified their affection
for their mother by yoking themselves, since no oxen were at
hand, to her chariot, and so dragging her through heat and dust
many a weary league till they reached the temple, where stood the
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 8 1
gold and ivoiy masterwork of Polyclitus. With admiration the
devoted priestess and her pious sons were received by the popu-
lace crowding round the statue. The priest officiating in the
solemn rites thought meet that so reverend a worshiper should
herself approach the goddess, — ay, should ask of Hera some
blessing on her faithful sons :
. . . Slowly old Cydippe rose and cried :
" Hera, whose priestess I have been and am,
Virgin and matron, at whose angry eyes
Zeus trembles, and the windless plain of heaven
With hyperborean fechoes rings and roars.
Remembering thy dread nuptials, a wise god.
Golden and white in thy new-carven shape.
Hear me ! and grant for these my pious sons.
Who saw my tears, and wound their tender arms
Around me, and kissed me calm, and since no steer
Stayed in the byre, dragged out the chariot old,
And wore themselves the galling yoke, and brought
Their mother to the feast of her desire.
Grant them, O Hera, thy best gift of gifts ! "
Whereat the statue from its jeweled eyes
Lightened, and thunder ran from cloud to cloud
In heaven, and the vast company was hushed.
But when they sought for Cleobis, behold,
He lay there still, and by his brother's side
Lay Biton, smiling through ambrosial curls,
And when the people touched them they were dead.i
65. Myths of Minerva. Minerva, as we have seen,^ presided
over the useful and ornamental arts, both those of men — such as
agriculture and navigation — and those of women — spinning,
weaving, and needlework. She was also a warlike divinity, but
favored only defensive warfare. With Mars' savage love of vio-
lence and bloodshed she, therefore, had no sympathy. Athens,
her chosen seat, her own city, was awarded to her as the prize of
a peaceful contest with Neptune, who also aspired to it. In the
1 From The Sons of Cydippe, by Edmund Gosse in his On Viol and Flute.
s § 27, and Commentaxy.
82 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, the two deities had
contended for the possession of the city. The gods decreed that
it should be awarded to the one who produced the gift most useful
to mortals. Neptune gave the horse ; Minerva produced the olive.
The gods awarded the city to the goddess, and after her Greek
appellation, Athena, it was named.
66. Arachne. In another contest, a mortal dared to come into
competition with the gray-eyed daughter of Jove. This was Arachne,
a maiden who had attained such skill in the arts of carding and
spinning, of weaving and embroidery, that the Nymphs themselves
would leave their groves and fountains to come and gaze upon her
work. It was not only beautiful when it was done, but beautiful
also in the doing. To watch her one would have said that Minerva
herself had taught her. But this she denied, and could not bear
to be thought a pupil even of a goddess. ** Let Minerva try her
skill with mine," said she. ** If beaten, I will pay the penalty."
Minerva heard this and was displeased. Assuming the form of
an old woman, she appeared to Arachne and kindly advised her
to challenge her fellow mortals if she would, but at once to ask
forgiveness of the goddess. Arachne bade the old dame to keep
her counsel for others. ** I am not afraid of the goddess ; let her
try her skill, if she dare venture." " She comes," said Minerva,
and dropping her disguise, stood confessed. The Nymphs bent
low in homage and all the bystanders paid reverence. Arachne
alone was unterrified. A sudden color dyed her cheek, and then
she grew pale ; but she stood to her resolve and rushed on her
fate. They proceed to the contest. Each takes her station and
attaches the web to the beam. Then the slender shuttle is passed
in and out among the threads. The reed with its fine teeth strikes
up the woof into its place and compacts the web. Wool of Tyrian
dye is contrasted with that of other colors, shaded off into one
another so adroitly that the joining deceives the eye. And the
effect is like the bow whose long arch tinges the heavens, formed
by sunbeams reflected from the shower,^ in which, where the colors
meet they seem as one, but at a little distance from the point of
contact are wholly different.
1 From Ovid.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 83
Minerva wove the scene of her contest with Neptune (Poseidon).
Twelve of the heavenly powers were represented, Jupiter, with
august gravity, sitting in the midst, Neptune, the ruler of the sea,
held his trident and appeared to have just smitten the earth, from
Fio. 52. Contest of Athena and Poseidon
which a horse had leaped forth. The bright-eyed goddess depicted
herself with helmed head, her aegis covering her breast, as when
she had created the olive tree with its berries and its dark green
leaves.
Amongst these leaves she made a Butterfly,
With excellent device and wondrous slight,
Fluttering among the olives wantonly,
That seemed to live, so like it was in sight;
The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,
The silken down with which his back is dight.
His broad outstretched homs, his hairy thighs.
His glorious colors, and his glistering eyes.
Which when Arachne saw, as overlaid
And master&d with workmanship so rare,
She stood astonished long, ne aught gainsaid ;
And with fast-fix&d eyes on her did stare.'
1 From Spensei's Muiopotmoa.
84 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
So wonderful was the central circle of Minerva's web ; and in
the four comers were represented incidents illustrating the dis-
pleasure of the gods at such presumptuous mortals as had dared to
contend with them. These were meant as Earnings from Minerva
to her rival to give up the contest before it was too late.
But Arachne did not yield. She filled her web with subjects
designedly chosen to exhibit the failings and errors of the gods.
One scene represented Leda caressing the swan ; and another,
Danae and the golden shower. Still another depicted Europa
deceived by Jupiter under the disguise of a bull. Its appearance
was that of a real bull, so naturally was it 'wrought and so natural
the water in which it swam.
With such subjects Arachne filled her canvas, wonderfully well
done but strongly marking her presumption and impiety. Minerva
could not forbear to admire, yet was indignant at the insult. She
struck the web with her shuttle and rent it in pieces ; then, touch-
ing the forehead of Arachne, she made her realize her guilt. It
was more than mortal could bear ; and forthwith Arachne hanged
herself. " Live, guilty woman," said Minerva, ** but that thou
mayest preserve the memory of this lesson continue to hang, both
thou and thy descendants, to all future times." Then, sprinkling
her with the juices of aconite, the goddess transformed her into a
spider, forever spinning the thread by which she is suspended.^
67. Myths of Mars. The relations of Mars to other deities
may be best illustrated by passages from the Iliad, which, generally
speaking, presents him in no very favorable light.
68. Mars and Diomede. In the war of the Greeks and the
Trojans,^ the cause of the former was espoused by Minerva, of
the latter by Mars. Among the chieftains of the Greeks in a
certain battle, Diomede, son of Tydeus, was prominent. Now
when Mars, scourge of mortals, beheld noble Diomede, he made
straight at him.
. . . And when they were come nigh in onset on one another, first Mars
thrust over the yoke and horses' reins with spear of bronze, eager to take away
his life. But the bright-eyed goddess Minerva with her hand seized the spear
and thrust it up over the car, to spend itself in vain. Next Diomede of the
1 Ovid, Metam. 6, 1-145. '^ 5 200.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 85
loud war cry attacked with spear of bronze ; and Minerva drave it home against
Mars' netliermost belly, where his taslets were girt about him. There smote
he him and wounded him, rending through his fair skin, — and plucked forth
the spear again. Then brazen Mars bellowed loud as nine thousand warriors
or ten thousand cry in battle as they join in strife and fray. Thereat trem-
bling gat hold of Achasans and Trojans for fear, so mightily bellowed Mars
insadate of battle.
Even as gloomy mist appeareth from the clouds when after heat a stormy
wind ariseth, even so to Tydeus' son Diomede brazen Mars appeared amid
douds, faring to wide Heaven. Swiftly
came he to the gods' dwelling, steep
Olympus, and sat beside Jupiter, son
of Cronus, with grief at heart, and
showed the immortal blood flowing
from the wound, and piteously spake
to him winged words : " Father Jupi-
ter, hast thou no indignation to behold
these violent deeds ? For ever cruelly
suffer we gods by one another's de-
vices, in showing men grace. With
thee are we all at variance, because
thou didst beget that reckless maiden
and baleful, whose thought is ever
of iniquitous deeds. For all the other
gods that are in Olympus hearken to
thee, and we are subject every one ;
only her thou chastenest not, neither
in deed nor word, but settest her on,
because this pestilent one is thine
own offspring. Now hath she urged
on Tydeus' son, even overweening
Diomede, to rage furiously against
the immortal gods. The Cyprian first
he wounded in close light, in the wrist of her hand, and then assailed he me,
even me, with the might of a god. Howbtit my swift feet bare me away ; else
had I long endured anguish there amid the grisly heaps of dead, or else had
lived strengthless from the smitings of the spear."
Then Jupiter the cloud-gatherer looked sternly at him, and said ; " Nay, thou
- ren^ade, sit not by me and whine. Most hateful to me art thou of all gods
that dwell in Olympus ; thou ever lovest strife and wars and battles. Truly
thy mother's spirit is intolerable, unyielding, even Juno's; her can I scarce
rule with words. Therefore I deem that by her prompting thou art in this
' S3 Al
86 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
plight. Yet will I no longer endure to see thee in anguish; mine offspring
art thou, and to me thy mother bare thee. But wert thou bom of any other
god unto this violence, long ere this hadst thou been lower than the sons of
Heaven."
So spake he and bade Paean heal him. And Paean laid assuaging drugs
upon the wound, and healed him, seeing he was in no wise of mortal mold.
Even as fig juice maketh haste to thicken white milk, that is liquid but cur-
dleth speedily as a man stirreth, even so swiftly healed he impetuous Mars.
And Hebe bathed him and clothed him in gracious raiment, and he sate down
by Jupiter, son of Cronus, glorying in his might.
Then fared the twain back to the mansion of great Jupiter, even Juno and
Minerva, having stayed Mars, scourge of mortals, from his man-slaying.^
69. Mars and Minerva. It would seem that the insatiate son of
Juno should have learned by this sad experience to avoid measur-
ing arms with the aegis-bearing Minerva. But he renewed the con-
test at a later period in the fortunes of the Trojan War :
. . . Jupiter knew what was coming as he sat upon Olympus, and his i^eart
within him laughed pleasantly when he beheld that strife of gods. Then no
longer stood they asunder, for Mars, piercer of shields, began the battle and
first made for Minerva with his bronze spear, and spake a taunting word:
" Wherefore, O dogfly, dost thou match gods with gods in strife, with stormy
daring, as thy great spirit moveth thee? Rememberest thou not how thou
movedst Diomede, Tydeus' son, to wound me, and thyself didst take a visible
spear and thrust it straight at me and pierce through my fair skin ? Therefore
deem I now that thou shalt pay me for all that thou hast done."
Thus saying, he smote on the dread tasseled aegis that not even the light-
ning of Jupiter can overcome — thereon smote blood-stained Mars with his
long spear. But she, giving back, grasped with stout hand a stone that lay
upon the plain, black, rugged, huge, which men of old time set to be the land-
mark of a field ; this hurled she, and smote impetuous Mars on the neck, and
unstrung his limbs. Seven roods he covered in his fall, and soiled his hair
with dust, and his armor rang upon him. And Minerva laughed, and spake to
him winged words exultingly : " Fool, not even yet hast thou learnt how far
better than thou I claim to be, that thus thou matchest thy might with mine.
Thus shalt thou satisfy thy mother's curses, who deviseth mischief against
thee in her wrath, for that thou hast left the Achaeans and givest the proud
Trojans aid."
1 Iliad, 5, 850 et seq. (Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation). In accordance with the sys-
tem of nomenclature adopted in this work, Latin equivalents are given, wherever possible,
for Greek names.
r
dai
ft
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 87
Thus having said, she lumcd from him her shining eyes. Him did Venus,
daughter of Jupiter, take by the hand and lead away, groaning continually, for
scarce gathered he his spirit back to him.'
70. The Fortunes of Cadmus. Towai^i mortals Mars could show
limself on occasion a^ \indicti\e as his fair foe the unwearied
laughter of Jo\e This fact not onlv Cadmus who slew a serpent
sacred to "Vlars, but all the familv ot Ladmus found out to their cost.
When Europa was earned awaj by J upiter in the guise of a bull,
her father Ai;enor commandt-d his son Cadmus to go in search of
her and not to return without her. Cadmus sought long and far ;
then, not daring to return unsuccessful, consulted the oracle of
Apollo to know wliac country he should settle in. The oracle in-
formed him that he would find a cow in the field, should follow her
wherever she might wander, and where she stopped should build a
ci^ and call it Thebes, Cadmus had hardly left the Castalian cave,
from which the oracle was delivered, when he saw a young cow
slowly walking before him. He followed her close, offering at the
■ ne his prayers to Phcebus, The cow went on till she passed
. (Lang, Lea
and Mycts'
I
88 'I'HE CLASSIC MYTHS
the shallow channel of Cephissus and came out into the plain of
Panope. There she stood still. Cadmus gave thanks, and stooping
down kissed the foreign soil, then lifting his eyes, greeted the sur-
rounding mountains. Wishing to offer a sacrifice to his protecting
deity, Minerva, he sent his servants to seek pure water for a liba-
tion. Near by there stood an ancient grove which had never been
profaned by the ax, in the midst of which was a cave thick cov-
ered with the growth of bushes, its roof forming a low arch from
beneath which burst forth a fountain of purest water. But in the
cave lurked a serpent with crested head, and scales glittering like
gold ; his eyes shone like fire ; his body was swollen with venom ;
he vibrated a triple tongue and showed a triple row of teeth. No
sooner had the Tyrians dipped their pitchers in the fountain and
the ingushing waters had made a sound, than the monster, twisting
his scaly body in a huge coil, darted upon them and destroyed
some with his fangs, others in his folds, and others with his
poisonous breath.
Cadmus, having waited for the return of his men till midday,
went in search of them. When he entered the wood and saw their
lifeless bodies and the dragon with his bloody jaws, not knowing
that the serpent was sacred to Mars, scourge of mortals, he lifted
a huge stone and threw it with all his force at the monster. The
blow made no impression. Minerva, however, was present, unseen,
to aid her worshiper. Cadmus next threw his javelin, which pene-
trated the serpent's scales and pierced through to his entrails.
The monster attempted to draw out the weapon with his mouth,
but broke it off, leaving the iron point rankling in his flesh. His
neck swelled with rage, bloody foam covered his jaws, and the
breath of his nostrils poisoned the air around. As he moved on-
ward, Cadmus retreated before him, holding his spear opposite to
the serpent's opened jaws. At last, watching his chance, the hero
thrust the spear at a moment when the animal's head thrown back
came against the trunk of a tree, and so succeeded in pinning him
to its side.
While Cadmus stood over his conquered foe, contemplating its
vast size, a voice was heard (from whence he knew not, but it was
Minerva's) commanding him to take the dragon's teeth and sow
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 89
them in the earth. Scarce had he done so when the clods began
to move and the points of speaft to appear above the surface.
Next, helmets with their nodding plumes came up ; next, the
shoulders and breasts and limbs of men with weapons, and in time
a harvest of armed warriors. Cadmus prepared to encounter a new
enemy, but one of them said to him, "Meddle not with our civil
war." With that he who had spoken smote one of his earthbom
brothers with a sword, and he himself fell pierced with an arrow
from another. The latter fell victim to a fourth, and in like man-
ner the whole crowd dealt with each other till all but five fell slain.
These five joined with Cadmus in building his city, to which they
gave the name appointed.
As penance for the destruction of this sacred serpent, Cadmus
served Mars for a period of eight years. After he had been ab-
solved of his impiety,
Minerva set him over
the realm of Thebes,
and Jove gave him to
wife Harmon ia, the
daughter of Venus
and Mars. The gods
left Olympus to honor
the occaaon with their
presence ; and Vulcan presented the bride with a necklace of sur-
passing brilliancy, his own workmanship. Of this marriage were
bom four daughters, Semele, Ino, Autonoe, and Agave, and one
son, Polydorus. But in spite of the atonement made by Cadmus, a
fatality hung over the family. The very necklace of Vulcan seemed
to catch the spirit of ill luck and convey a baleful influence to such
as wore it. Semele, Ino, Acfceon the son of Autonoe, and Pen-
theus the son of Agave, all perished by violence, Cadmus and
Harmonia quitted Thebes, grown odious to them, and emigrated to
the country of the Enchelians, who received them with honor and
made Cadmus their king. But the misfortunes of their children
still weighing upon their minds, Cadmus one day exclaimed, "If a
serpent's life is so dear to the gods, I would I were myself a ser-
pent" No sooner had he uttered the words than he began to
F G 55 Harmoni
i 90
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
change his form. Harmonia, beholding it, prayed the gods to let
her share his fate. Both became serpents. It is said that, mindful
of their origin, they neither avoid the presence of man nor do
they injure any one. But the curse appears not to have passed
from their house until the sons of their great-great-grandson
CEdipus had by fraternal strife ended themselves and the family,'
71. Myths of Vulcan. The stories of Vulcan are few, although in-
cidents illustrating his character are sufficiently numerous. Accord-
F G 56 The Fom-t. op 'S
From die paintiiig by Velasquez
ing to an account already given, Vulcan, because of hts lameness,
was cast out of Heaven by his mother Juno. The sea-goddesses
Kuiynome and Thetis took him mercifully to themselves, and for
nine years cared for him, while he plied his trade and gained pro-
ficiency in it, In order to revenge himself upon the mother who
had so despitefully used him, he fashioned in the depths of the
sea a throne of cunning device, which he sent to his mother. She,
gladly accepting the glorious gift, sat down u; '
I dvitl, Mi-Om. ], .-1 1? : 1, 5S,-fi^.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 91
that straightway all manner of invisible chains and fetters wound
and clasped themselves about her so that she could not rise. The
assistance of the gods was of no avail to release her. Then Mars
sought to bring Vulcan to Heaven by force that he might undo his
trickery ; but before the flames of the fire-god, the impetuous war-
rior speedily retreated. One god, however, the jovial Bacchus, was
dear to the blacksmith. He drenched Vulcan with wine, conducted
him to Olympus, and by persuasion caused him to set the queen of
gods and men at liberty.
That Vulcan was not permanently hostile to Juno is shown
by the services that on various occasions he rendered her. He
forged the shield of her favorite Achilles ; and, at her instance, he
undertook a contest against
the river Xanthus. Homer^
describe's the burning of
elms and willow trees and
tamarisks, the parching of
the plains, the bubbling of
the waters, that signalized the
fight, and how the eels and
other fish were afflicted by
Vulcan till Xanthus in an-
guish cried for quarter.
72. Myths of ApoUo. The
^jnyths which cluster about the
^Hj^ of Phcebus Apollo illustrate, first, his birth and the wanderings
^wtus mother, Latona ; secondly, his victory over darkness and win-
^ter; thirdly, his gifts to man, — youth and vigor, the sunshine of
spring, and the vegetation of early summer ; fourthly, his baleful
influence, — the sunstroke and drought of midsummer, the miasma
of autumn ; fifthly, his life on earth, as friend and counselor of
mankind, — healer, soothsayer, and musician, prototype of manly
beauty, and lover of beautiful women.
73. The Wanderings of Latona. Persecuted by the jealousy of
the white-armed Juno, Latona fled frofij land to land. At last, bear-
ing in her arms the infant progeny of Jove, she reached Lycia,
i. 57. A Sacrii
92 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
weary with her burden and parched with thirst. There the follow-
ing adventure ensued. By chance the persecuted goddess espied
in the bottom of the valley a pond of clear water, where the coun-
try people were at work gathering willows and osiers. She ap-
proached and kneeling on the bank would have slaked her thirst
in the cool stream, but the rustics forbade her. "Why do you
refuse me water ?" said she. ** Water is free to all. Yet I ask it of
you as a favor. I have no intention of washing my limbs in it,
weary though they be, but only of quenching my thirst. A draft
of water would be nectar to me, and I would own myself indebted
to you for life itself. Let these infants move your pity, who stretch
out their little arms as if to plead for me."
But the clowns persisted in their rudeness ; they added jeers,
and threatened violence if she did not leave the place. They waded
into the pond and stirred up the mud with their feet, so as to
make the water unfit to drink. Enraged, the goddess no longer
supplicated the clowns, but lifting her hands to Heaven exclaimed,
**May they never quit that pool but pass their lives there ! " And
it came to pass accordingly. They still live in the water, sometimes
totally submerged, then raising their heads above the surface or
swimming upon it ; sometimes coming out upon the bank, but soon
leaping back again into the water. Their voices are harsh, their
throats bloated, their mouths distended by constant railing ; their
necks have shrunk up and disappeared, and their heads are joined
to their bodies. Their backs are green, their disproportioned bellies
white. They dwell as frogs in the slimy pool.^
74. Apollo, the Light Triumphant. Soon after his birth the
sun-god spent a year among the Hyperboreans, whose shining land
has been already described.^ On his Tetum, slaying with his golden
arrows the Python that had infestea the slopes near Delphi, he
sang for the first time that song or victory which, as the Pceatiy
is still among all nations synonymous with jubilation, praise, and
thanksgiving. In his conflict with another monster of darkness
and winter, the god of the silver bow had the assistance of his
sister Diana. By their unerring fiery darts they subdued the giant
Tityus, who not only had obstructed the peaceful ways to the
1 Ovid, Metam. 6, 313-381. 3§ 30.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN
93
oracle of Delphi, but had ventured to insult the mother of the twin
deities. They overthrew also the Aioadas, Otus and Ephialtes, sons
of Iphimedia and Neptune, These monsters, the reputed sons of
Aloeus, represent, perhaps, the unregulated forces of vegetation ;
they were renowned for their strength, stature, and courage. They
grew at the rate of three cubits in height and one in breadth
every year ; and, when nine years of age, they attempted, by piling
Mount Ossa upon Olympus, and Mount Pelion on top, to scale
the skies and dethrone the immortals. It is reported that not
Apollo and Diana, but Jupiter himself with
his hghtning slew them. They atoned for
their presumption in Hades, where, bound
by serpents to a pillar, they were tormented
by the perpetual hooting of a screech owl,'
75. Hyaciathus. The fiery force of the
Far-darter was not felt by the monsters
of darkness alone. His friendship for the
young and tb^ vigorous was frequently as
dangerous as it was dear to the objects of it.
He was, for instance, passionately fond of a
youth named Hyacinthus, The god of the
silver bow accompanied the lad in his sports,
carried the nets when he went fishing, led
the dogs when he went to hunt, followed
him in his excursions in the mountains, and
neglected for him both lyre and arrows. One
day they played a game of quoits ; Apollo, heaving aloft the discus
with strength mingled with skill, sent it high and far, Hyacinthus,
excited with the sport and eager to make his throw, ran forward to
seize the missile ; but it bounded from the earth and struck him
in the forehead. He fainted and fell. The god, as pale as himself,
laised him and tried all his art to stanch the wound and retain the
flitting life, but in vain. As when one has broken the stem of a
lily in the garden it hangs its head and turns its flowers to the
e^th, so the head of the dying boy, as if too heavy for his neck,
fell over on his shoulder. "Thou diest. Hyacinth," spake Fhcebus,
J Roscher, Auaf. Lex. Lfg. 2, 254, Article A/ihiiia [Schulti].
94 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
" robbed of thy youth by me. Would that I could die for thee ! But
since that may not be, my lyre shall celebrate thee, my song shall
tell thy fate, and thou shalt become a flower inscribed with my re-
gret." While the golden god spoke, the blood which had flowed
on the ground and stained the herbage ceased to be blood ; and a
flower of hue more beautiful than the Tyrian sprang up, resembling
the lily, save that this is purple and that silvery white. Phoebus
then, to confer still greater honor, marked the petals with his sor-
row, inscribing ** Ai ! ai ! " upon them. The flower bears the name
of Hyacinthus, and with returning spring revives the memory of
his fate.^
It was said that Zephyrus (the west wind), who was also fond
of Hyacinthus and jealous of his preference of Apollo, blew the
quoit out of its course to make it strike Hyacinthus.
While this youth met his death by accident, another of Apollo's
favorites, his own son, brought death upon himself by presumption.
The story is as follows :
76. Pha^'thon ^ was the son of Apollo and the nymph Clymene.
One day Epaphus, the son of Jupiter and lo,^ scoffed at the idea
of Phaethon's being the son of a god. Phaethon complained of
the insult to his mother Clymene. She sent him to Phoebus to ask
for himself whether he had not been truly informed concerning
his parentage. Gladly Phaethon traveled toward the regions of
sunrise and gained at last the palace of the Sun. He approached
his father's presence, but stopped at i^ distance, for the light was
more than he could bear. Phoebus Apollo, arrayed in purple, sat
on a throne that glittered with diamoifids. Beside him stood the
Day, the Month, the Year, the Hpurs, and the Seasons. Sur-
rounded by these attendants, the Sun beheld the youth dazzled
with the novelty and splendor of the scene, and inquired the pur-
pose of his errand. The youth replied, " Oh, light of the boundless
world, Phoebus, my father — if thou dost yield me that name — •
give me some proof, I beseech thee, by which I may be known
as thine I " He ceased. His father, laying aside the beams that
shone around his head, bade him approach, embraced him, owned
him for his son, and swore by the river Styx^ that whatever proof
1 Ovid, Metam. lo, 162-219. ^Ovid, Metam. 2, 1-400. *§ 44.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 95
he might ask should be granted. Phaethon immediately asked to
be permitted for one day to drive the chariot of the sun. The
father repented of his promise and tried to dissuade the boy by
telling him the perils of the undertaking. *' None but myself," he
said, '* may drive the flaming car of day. Not even Jupiter, whose
terrible right arm hurls the thunderbolts. The first part of the way
is steep and such as the horses when fresh in the morning can
hardly climb; the middle is high up in the heavens, whence I
myself can scarcely, without alarm, look down and behold the earth
and sea stretched beneath me. The last part of the road descends
rapidly and requires most careful driving. Tethys, who is waiting
to receive me, often trembles for me lest I should fall headlong.
Add to this that the heaven is all the time turning round and carry-
ing the stars with it. Couldst thou keep thy course while the sphere
revolved beneath thee } The road, also, is through the midst of
frightful monsters. Thou must pass by the horns of the Bull, in
front of the Archer, and near the Lion's jaws, and where the
Scorpion stretches its arms in one direction and the Crab in
another. Nor wilt thou find it easy to guide those horses, with
their breasts full of fire that they breathe forth from their mouths
and nostrils. Beware, my son, lest I be the donor of a fatal gift ;
recall the request while yet thou canst." He ended ; but the youth
rejected admonition and held to his demand. So, having resisted
as long as he might, Phoebus at last led the way to where stood
the lofty chariot.
It was of gold, the gift of Vulcan, — the axle of gold, the pole
and wheels of gold, the spokes of silver. Along the seat were rows
of chrysolites and diamonds, reflecting the brightness of the sun.
While the daring youth gazed in admiration, the early Dawn threw
open the purple doors of the east and showed the pathway strewn
with roses. The stars withdrew, marshaled by the Daystar, which
last of all retired also. The father, when he saw the earth beginning
to glow and the Moon preparing to retire, ordered the Hours to
harness up the horses. They led forth from the lofty stalls the
steeds full fed with ambrosia, and attached the •reins. Then the
father, smearing the face of his son with a powerful unguent, made
him capable of enduring the brightness of the flame. He set the
96 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
rays on the lad's head, and, with a foreboding sigh, told him to
spare the whip and hold. tight the reins; not to take the straight
road between the five circles, but to turn off to the left ; to keep
within the limit of the middle zone and avoid the northern and the
southern alike ; finally, to keep in the well-worn ruts and to drive
neither too high nor too low, for the middle course was safest
and best.^
Forthwith the agile youth sprang into the chariot, stood erect,
and grasped the reins with delight, pouring out thanks to his
reluctant parent. But the steeds soon perceived that the load they
drew was lighter than usual ; and as a ship without ballast is tossed
hither and thither on the sea, the chariot, without its accustomed
weight, was dashed about as if empty. The horses rushed headlong
and left the traveled road. Then, for the first time, the Great and
Little Bears were scorched with heat, and would fain, if it were
possible, have plunged into the water ; and the Serpent which lies
coiled round the north pole, torpid and harmless, grew warm, and
with warmth felt its rage revive. Bootes, they say, fled away,
though encumbered with his plow and unused to rapid motion.
When hapless Phaethon looked down upon the earth, now spread-
ing in vast extent beneath him, he grew pale, and his knees shook
with terror. He lost his self-command and knew not whether to
draw tight the reins or throw them loose ; he forgot the names of
the horses. But when he beheld the monstrous forms scattered
over the surface of heaven, — the Scorpion extending two great
arms, his tail, and his crooked claws over the space of two signs
of the zodiac, — when the boy beheld him, reeking with poison
and menacing v/ith fangs, his courage failed, and the reins fell
from his hands. The horses, unrestrained, went off into unknown
regions of the sky in among the stars, hurling the chariot over
pathless places, now up in high heaven, now down almost to the
earth. The moon saw with astonishment her brother's chariot
running beneath her own. The clouds began to smoke. The
forest-clad mountains burned, — Athos and Taurus and Tmolus
and OEte ; Ida, once celebrated for fountains ; the Muses* mountain
Helicon, and Haemus ; ^tna, with fires within and without, and
1 KiecUo tutissimus ibis, — Ovid.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 97
Famassus, with his two peaks, and Rhodope, forced at last to part
with his snowy crown. Her cold climate was no protection to
Scythia ; Caucasus burned, and Ossa and Pindus, and, greater
than both, Olympus, — the Alps high in air, and the Apennines
crowned with clouds.
Phaethon beheld the world on fire and felt the heat intolerable.
Then, too, it is said, the people of Ethiopia became black because
the blood was called by the heat so suddenly to the surface ; and
the Libyan desert was dried up to the condition in which it remains
to this day. The Nymphs of the fountains, with disheveled hair,
mourned their waters, nor were the rivers safe beneath their banks ;
NgB
M^^l
■t^iS
F*^'^^^^
m
B
rjH^^^^^
^M
^H
Fig. 59. The Fall of Phaethon
Tanars smoked, and Caicus, Xanthus, and Maeander ; Babylonian
Euphrates and Ganges, Tagus, rfith golden sands, and Cayster,
where the swans resort. Nile fled away and hid his head in the
desert, and there it still remains concealed. Where he used to dis-
charge his waters through seven mouths into the sea, seven dry
channels alone remained. The earth cracked open, and through
the chinks light broke into Tartarus and frightened the king of
shadows and his queen. The sea shrank up. Even Nereus and his
wife Doris with the Nereids, their daughters, sought the deepest
caves for refuge. Thrice Neptune essayed to raise his head above
the surface and thrice was driven back by the heat. Earth, sur-
rounded as she was by waters, yet with head and shoulders bare,
screening her face with her hand, looked up to heaven, and with
98 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
husky voice prayed Jupiter, if it were his will that she should
perish by fire, to end her agony at once by his thunderbolts, or
else to consider his own Heaven, how both the poles were smok-
ing that sustained his palace, and that all must fall if they were
destroyed.
Earth, overcome with heat and thirst, could say no more. Then
Jupiter, calling the gods to witness that all was lost unless some
speedy remedy were applied, thundered, brandished a lightning
bolt in his right hand, launched it against the charioteer, and struck
him at the same moment from his seat and from existence.
Phaethon, with his hair on fire, fell headlong, like a shooting star
which marks the heavens with its brightness as it falls, and Erida-
nus, the great river, received him and cooled his burning frame.
His sisters, the Heliades, as they lamented his fate, were turned
into poplar trees on the banks of the river ; and their tears, which
continued to flow, became amber as they dropped into the stream.
The Italian Naiads reared a tomb for him and inscribed these
words upon the stone :
Driver of Phoebus' chariot, Phaethon,
Struck by Jove's thunder, rests beneath this stone.
He could not rule his father's car of fire,
Yet was it much so nobly to aspire.^
77. The Plague sent upon the Greeks before Troy. It was not,
however, only by accident, or by the ill-advised action of those
whom he loved, that Apollo's gifts of light and heat were turned
into misfortunes. Mortals who offended him were leveled by the
cruel sunstroke, by arrows of malarial venom, of manifold sickness
and death.
When the host of the Achaeans was encamped before Troy, the
king of men, Atrides, unjustly declined to restore his captive,
Chrysers of the fair cheeks, to her father Chryses, the priest of
far-darting Apollo. Then the aged Chryses went apart and prayed
aloud, ** Hear me, god of the silver bow, ... let the Danaans pay
by thine arrows for my tears ! "
1 Hie situs est Phcuithony currus auriga patertUy
Quem si non tenuity magrus tamen excidit ousts. — Ovid.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 99
So spake he in prayer; and Phoebus Apollo heard him, and came down
from the peaks of Olympus wroth at heart, bearing on his shoulders his bow
and covered quiver. And the arrows clanged upon his shoulders in his wrath,
as the god moved ; and he descended like to night. Then he sate him aloof
from the ships, and let an arrow fly ; and there was heard a dread clanging of
the silver bow. First did he assail the mules and fleet dogs, but afterward,
aiming at the men his piercing dart, he smote ; and the pyres of the dead
burnt continually in multitude. Nor until Ag?imemnon had sent back his
winsome captive to her father did Apollo remove from the Danaans the loath-
some pestilence.^
78. The Punishment of Niobe is another illustration of the swift
and awful vengeance of Apollo, and also of his sister Diana. This
Niobe was the daughter of a certain Tantalus, king of Phrygia,
who had been received at the table of the gods by his father
Jupiter. But there was a strain of ingratitude and conceit in both
father and daughter. The father not only betrayed the secrets of
the gods, but, to ridicule their reputed omniscience, attempted at
a banquet to deceive them into eating the roasted flesh of his own
son Pelops. The gods were not deceived. Peiops was restored
to life, — Tantalus consigned to Tartarus. The daughter Niobe,
although she owed her happy marriage with Jupiter's son Amphion,
and her seven stalwart sons and seven blooming daughters, to the
favor of the gods and of Latona in particular, boasted of her birth,
her marriage, and her offspring, bragged of her superiority to
Latona, and, on one occasion, scoffed at the annual celebration in
honor of the goddess and her two children. Surveying the people
of Thebes with haughty glance, she said, '*What folly to prefer
beings whom you have never seen to those who stand before your
eyes ! Will you prefer to me this Latona, the Titan's daughter,
with her two children } I have seven times as many. Were I to
lose some of my children, I should hardly be left as poor as Latona
with her two only. Put off the laurel from your brows, — have
done with this worship ! " The people left the sacred services
uncompleted.
The goddess was indignant. On the Cynthian mountain top
she thus addressed her son and daughter : ** My children, I who
have been so proud of you both and have been used to hold
1 Iliad, I, 43-52 (I^ng, Leaf, and Myers' translation).
lOO THE CLASSIC MYTHS
myself second to none of the goddesses except Juno alone, begin
now to doubt whether I am indeed a goddess. I shall be deprived
of my worship altogether unless you protect me." She was pro-
ceeding in this strain, but Apollo interrupted her. " Say no more,"
said he; "speech only delays punishment." So said Diana also.
Dating through the air, veiled in clouds, they alighted on the
towers of the city. Spread out
before the gates was a broad
plain where the youth of the city
pursued their warlike sports.
The sons of Niobe were there
with the rest, — some mounted
on spirited horses richly capari-
soned, some driving gay char-
iots. Ismenos, the first-bom,
as he guided his foaming steeds
was struck by an arrow from
above. "Ah me!" he cried,
— dropped the reins and fell
lifeless. Another, hearing the
sound of the bow, gave the rein
to his horses and attempted to
escape. The inevitable arrow
overtook him as he fled. Two
others, younger, stood wrest
ling breast to breast : one arrow
pierced them both. Alphenor,
an elder brother, hastened to
the spot to render assistance, but fell in the act of brotherly duty.
One only was left, Ilioneus. "Spare me, ye gods!" he cried,
addressing all of them, in his ignorance that all needed not his
supplication ; and Apollo would have spared him, but the arrow
had already left the string, and it was too late.
When Niobe was acquainted with what had taken place, she
was indignant that the gods had dared, and amazed that they had
been able to do it. Her husband Amphion, overwhelmed with
the blow, destroved himself. But the mother knelt over the lifeless
[G. 60. A Son of Niobe
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN roi
bodies and kissed them. Raising
her pallid arms to heaven, " Cruel
Latona," said she, " satiate thy hard
heart while I follow to the grave
my seven sons. Yet where is thy
triumph ? Bereaved as I am, I am
still richer than thou, my conqueror."
Scarce had she spoken, when the
bow sounded and struck terror into
all hearts except Niobe's alone. She
was brave from excess of grief . Her
daughters stood in garments of
mourning over the biers of their
dead brothers. One after another
they fell, struck by arrows, beside
the corpses that they were bewail-
ing. Only one remained, whom the
mother held clasped in her arms
and covered, as it were, with her
whole body. " Spare me one and
that the youngest 1 Oh, spare me
one of so many t " she cried ; and
whOe she spoke, that one fell dead.
Desolate she sat among sons, daugh-
ters, husband, all dead, and seemed
torpid with grief. The breeze moved
not her hair, no color was on her
cheek, her eyes glared fixed and
immovable, there was no sign of
life about her. Her very tongue
cleaved to the roof of her mouth
and her veins ceased to convey the
tide of life. Her neck bent not,
her arms made no gesture, her foot
no step. She was changed to stone,
within and without Yet tears con-
tinued to flow; and borne on a
( THE CLASSIC MVTHS
whirlwind to her native mountain, she still remains, a mass of
rock from which a trickling stream flows, the tribute of her never-
ending grief.' ■ -
Amid nine daughters slain by Artemia
Stood Niobe; she rais'd her head above
Those beauteous forms which had brought down ilie scath
Whence fdl nine fell, rais'd It, and stood ei
And thus bespake the goddess enthroned on high :
" Thou heardest, Artemis, my daily prayer
Thai Ihou wouldst guide these children in the pass
Of virtue, through the tangling wilds of youth.
And thou didst ever guide them ; was it just
To smite Ihem for a beauty such as thine?
Deserv'd they death because thy grace appear'd
In ever modest modon f 'twas thy gift,
- 'Ovid, Me lam. 6, 165-311.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 103
The richest gift that youth from heaven receives.
True, I did boldly say they might compare
Even with thyself in virgin purity :
May not a mother in her pride repeat
What every mortal said ?
One prayer remains
For me to offer yet.
Thy quiver holds
More than nine arrows : bend thy bow ; aim here !
I see, I see it glimmering through a cloud.
Artemis, thou at length art merciful :
My children will not hear the fatal twang." ^
79. The Lamentation for Linus. How the people of Argos fell
under the displeasure of Apollo is told in the story of Linus,
a beautiful son of Apollo and Psamathe. In fear of her father
the king, Psamathe exposed the child on the mountains where,
brought up by shepherds among the lambs, he was in tender youth
torn to pieces by dogs. Meanwhile, Psamathe herself was driven
from her father's home ; wherefore Apollo sent against the land
of the Argives a monster that for a season destroyed the chil-
dren, but at last was slain by a noble youth named Coroebus. To
appease the wrathful deity, a shrine was erected midway between
Argos and Delphi ; and every year Linus and his mother were
bewailed in melancholy lays by the mothers and children of Argos,^
especially by such as had lost by death their own beloved. The
fate of Linus, like that of Hyacinthus and others who succumb
in the springtime of life under the excessive love of some shin-
ing deity,^ typifies the sudden withering of herbs and flowers
and of animal life, — the calves and lambs, young children too,
under the fierce shafts of summer. The very name of Linus is
taken from the refrain ai-linotiy or '* woe is me," of the lament
anciently sung by the country people when thus afflicted by the
unhealthy heats, because of which the crops fail and the dogs go
mad and tear the little lambs to pieces. In the Iliad there is a
beautiful picture which shows us that the song was not reserved .
completely for the dog days. It is of a vineyard teeming plen-
teously with clusters :
1 From W. S. Lahdor's Niobe. 2 See Commentary, ^^ 6i^, %o.
'^'-^
mK CLASSIC MYTHS
Vihl ihyiv »4!t a )>alhway through it by which the vintagers might go. And
iikuvk'u Mii.\ nil iiiUit^s in childish glee bare the sweet fruit in plaited baskets.
Vi>tl lu thv iitivtit i>l them a boy made pleasant music on a clear-toned viol, and
*iii(; ihtu-lii a sweet Linos-aong with delicate voice; while the rest with feet
lulliiiii liigelhcr kept time with the music and song.'
SO. jB«ulapiu8. The Thessalian princess Coronis (or the
Mt'SHenian, Arsinoe) bore to Apollo a child who was named
.^sculapius. On his mother's death
the infant was intrusted to the charge
of Chiron, most famous of the Cen-
taurs, himself instructed by Apollo and
Diana in hunting, medicine, music, and
the art of prophecy. When the sage
returned to his home bearing the infant,
his daughter Ocyrrho^ came forth to
meet him, and at sight of the child
burst into a prophetic strain, foretell-
ing the glory that he should achieve.
^sculapius, when grown up, became a
renowned physician ; in one instance he
even succeeded in restoring the dead to
life. Pluto resented this, and, at his
request, Jupiter struck the bold physi-
cian with lightning and killed him, but
after his death received him into the
number of the gods.^
81. Apollo in Exile. Apollo, indig-
nant at the destruction of this son,
1 the innocent workmen who had made
the thunderbolt. These were the Cyclopes, vMo had their work-
shop under Mount ^tna, from which the smoke and flames of
their furnaces are constantly issuing. ApollO-shot his arrows at
the Cyclopes, a deed which so incensed Jupiter ^at he condemned
him to serve a mortal for the space of one year. Accordingly,
Apollo went into the service of Admetus, king of Thessaly, and
pastured his flocks for him on the verdant banks of the river
1 Iliad, iS, J64 (LioCi I-e»(> >nd Myen' traniladDD). > Cioero, Nuura Deotum, 3, 11.
Fig. 63. A:sculapius
wreaked his vengeance c
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 105
Amphrysus. How the god lived among men, and what they
thought of him, is well told in the following verses.
82. Lowell's Shepherd of King Admetus.
There came a youth upon the earth,
Some thousand years ago,
Whose slender hands were nothing worth.
Whether to plow, or reap, or sow.
Upon an empty tortoise-shell
He stretched some chords, and drew
Music that made men's bosoms swell
Fearless, or brimmed their eyes with dew.
Then King Admetus, one who had
Pure taste by right divine,
Decreed his singing not too bad
To hear between the cups of wine :
And so, well pleased with being soothed
Into a sweet half-sleep.
Three times his kingly beard he smoothed.
And made him viceroy o'er his sheep.
His words were simple words enough,
And yet he used them so,
That what in other mouths was rough
In his seemed musical and low.
Men called him but a shiftless youth,
In whom no good they saw ;
And yet, unwittingly, in truth,
They made his careless words their law.
They knew not how he learned at all,
For idly, hour by hour.
He sat and watched the dead leaves fall.
Or mused upon a common flower.
It seemed the loveliness of things
Did teach him all their use,
For, in mere weeds, and stones, and springs
He found a healing power profuse.
I06 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Men granted that his speech was wise,
But, when a glance they caught
Of his slim grace and woman's eyes,
They laughed, and called him good-for-naught.
Yet after he was dead and gone
And e'en his memory dim,
Earth seemed more sweet to live upon,
More full of love, because of him.
And day by day more holy grew
Each spot where he had trod.
Till after-poets only knew
Thar first-bom brother as a god.
83. AdmetuB and Alcestis.^ Admetus was a suitor, with others,
for the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, who promised her
to him who should come
for her in a chariot drawn
by lions and boars. This
task Admetus performed by
the assistance of his divine
herdsman, and was made
happy in the possession of
\lcestis. But Admetus fall-
mg ill and being near to
death, Apollo prevailed on
the Fates to spare him on
condition that some one
should consent to die in his
stead. Admetus, in his joyat
this reprieve, thought little
of the ransom, and, perhaps
remembering the declara-
tions of attachment which
he had often heard from his courtiers and dependents, fancied that
it would be easy to find a substitute But it was not so. Brave
warriors who would willmgly have periled their lives for their
Fig 64 Admetus
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 107
prince, shrunk from the thought of dying for him on the bed of
sickness ; and old servants who had experienced his bounty and
that of his house from their childhood up were not willing to lay
down the scanty remnant of their days to show their gratitude.
Men asked, ** Why does not one of his parents do it ? They can-
not in the course of nature live much longer, and who can feel like
them the call to rescue the life they gave from an untimely end ?"
But the parents, distressed though they were at the thought of
losing him, shrunk from the call. Then Alcestis, with a generous
self-devotion, proffered herself as the substitute. Admetus, fond
as he was of life, would not have submitted to receive it at such
a cost ; but there was no remedy. The condition imposed by the
Fates had been met, aiid the decree was irrevocable. As Admetus
revived, Alcestis sickened, rapidly sank, and died.
Just after the funeral procession had left the palace, Hercules,
the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, arrived. He, to whom no labor
was too arduous, resolved to attempt her rescue. Said he :
" I will go lie in wait for Death, black-stoled
King of the corpses ! ^ I shall find him, sure,
Drinking, beside the tomb, o' the sacrifice :
And if I lie in ambuscade, and leap
Out of my lair, and seize — encircle him
Till one hand join the other round about —
There lives not who shall pull him out from me,
Rib-mauled, before he let the woman go !
But even say I miss the booty, — say,
Death comes not to the boltered blood, — why, then,
Down go I, to the unsunned dwelling-place
Of Kor^ 2 and the king there, — make demand.
Confident I shall bring Alkestis back,
So as to put her in the hands of him
My host, that housed me, never drove me off :
Though stricken with sore sorrow hid the stroke,
Being a noble heart and honoring me !
Who of Thessalians, more than this man, loves
The stranger ? Who that now inhabits Greece ?
Wherefore he shall not say the man was vile
1 From Browning's Balaustion's Adventure. The Greek form of the proper names has
been retained. * Proserpine.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Whom he befriended, — native noble heart ! "
So, one look upward, as if Zeus might laugh
Approval of his human progeny, —
One summons of the whole magnific frame.
Each sinew to its service, — up he caught,
And over shoulder cast the lion-shag.
Let the club go, — for had he not those hands ?
And so went striding ofF, on that straight way
Leads to Larissa and the suburb tomb.
Gladness be with thee, Helper of our world !
I think this is the authentic sign and seal
Of Godship that it ever waxes glad,
And more glad, until gladness blossoms, bursts
Into a rage to suffer for mankind.
And recommence at sorrow r drops like seed
After the blossom, ultimate of all.
Say, does the seed scorn earth and seek the sun?
Surely it has no other end and aim
Than to drop, once more die into the ground,
Taste cold and darkness and oblivion there :
And thence rise, tree-like grow through pain to joy.
More joy and most joy, — do man good again.
So to the struggle off strode Herakles.
Long time the Thessalians waited and mourned. As for Hera-
kles, no doubt they supposed him dead. When — but can it be?
. . . Ay, he it was advancing! In he strode,
And took his stand before Admetos, — turned
Now by despair to such a .quietude.
He neither raised his face nor spoke, this time.
The while his friend surveyed him steadily.
That friend looked rough with fighting ; had he strained
Worst brute to breast was ever strangled yet?
Somehow, a victory — for there stood the strength,
Happy, as always ; something grave, perhaps ;
The great vein-cordage on the fret-worked front,
Black-swollen, beaded yet with battle-dew
The golden hair o' the hero ! — his big frame
A-quiver with each muscle sinking back
Into the sleepy smooth it leaped from late.
Under the great guard of one arm, there leant
A shrouded something, live and woman-like.
Fig. 65. Heracles
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 109
Propped by the heartbeats 'neath the lion-coat
When he had finished his survey, it seemed,
The heavings of the heart began subside,
The helpful breath returned, and last the smile
Shone out, all Herakles was back again.
As the words followed the saluting hand.
** Admetus," said he, "take and keep this woman, my captive, till
I come thy way again." But Admetus would admit no woman into
the hall that Alcestis had left empty. Then cried Herakles/* Take
hold of her. See now, my friend, if she look not somewhat like
that wife thou hast lost."
Ah, but the tears come, find the words at fault !
There is no telling how the hero twitched
The veil off ; and there stood, with such fixed eyes
And such slow smile, Alkestis' silent self !
It was the crowning grace of that great heart.
To keep back joy : procrastinate the truth
Until the wife, who had made proof and found
The husband wanting, might essay once more.
Hear, see, and feel him renovated now —
Able to do now all herself had done.
Risen to the height of her : so, hand in hand.
The two might go together, live and die.
Beside, when he found speech, you guess the speech.
He could not think he saw his wife again :
It was some mocking God that used the bliss
To make him mad ! Till Herakles must help :
Assure him that no specter mocked at all ;
He was embracing whom he buried once.
Still, — did he touch, might he address the true.
True eye, true body of the true live wife ?
. . . And Herakles said little, but enough —
How he engaged in combat with that king
O' the daemons : how the field of contest lay
By the tomb's self : how he sprang from ambuscade.
Captured Death, caught him in that pair of hands.
But all the time, Alkestis moved not once
Out of the set gaze and the silent smile ;
And a cold fear ran through Admetos' frame :
" Why does she stand and front me, silent thus ? "
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Henikles solemnly replied, " Not yet
Is it allowable thou hear the things
She has to tell thee ; let evanish quite
That consecration to the lower Gods,
And on our upper world the third day rise !
Lead her in, meanwhile ; good and true thou a:
Good, tnie, remain thou! Practice piety
To stranger-guests the old way ! So, farewell !
Since forth I fare, fulfill my urgent task
Set by the king, the son of Sthenelos." ^
84. Apollo, the Musician. Not only in Arcadia, Laconia, and
Thessaly did Apollo
s a herdsman for the cattle of a mortal
master ; in Mount Ida, too, by the
order of Jupiter he herded for a year
the "shambling, crpok-homed kine " of
King Laomedon, and, playing on the
lyre, aided Neptune ■fo^ild the walls
of Troy, just as Am^rion, in his turn,
had aided in the building of Thebes.
Apollo's life as herdsman was spent in
establishing wise laws and customs, in
musical contests on the flute and the
lyre, or in passages of love with nymphs
and maidens of mortal mold.
85. Apollo, Pan, and Hidas.^ It is
said that on a certain occasion Pan had
the temerity to compare his music with
that of Apollo and to challenge the god
of the lyre to a triakof skill. The chal-
lenge was accepted, and Tmolus, the
mountain-god, was chosen\ umpire. The
senior took his seat and cleared away
the trees from his ears to listen. At a
given signal Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody
gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower Midas,
who happened to be present. Then Tmolus turned his head toward
Iliad, 2, 715, ^d the Alcestis of Euripides.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 1 1 1
the sun-god, and all his trees turned with him. Apollo rose, his brow
wreathed with Parnassian laurel, while his robe of Tyrian purple
swept the ground. In his left hand he held the lyre and with his
right hand struck the strings. Tmolus at once awarded the victory
to the Ivric god, and all but Midas acquiesced in the judgment. He
dissented and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo promptly
transformed his depraved pair of ears into those of an ass.
King Midas tried to hide his misfortune under an ample turban.
But his hair-dresser found it too much for his discretion to keep
such a secret ; he dug a hole in the ground and, stooping down,
whispered the story, and covered it up. But a thick bed of reeds
springing up in the meadow began whispering the story, and has
continued to do so from that day to this, every time a breeze
passes over the place.
86. Shelley's Hymn of Pan. In the following verses Pan taunts
Apollo as he might have done when Midas was sitting contentedly by :
From the forests and highlands
We come, we come ;
From the river-girt islands,
Where loud waves are dumb,
Listening to my sweet pipings.
The wind in the reeds and the rushes.
The bees on the bells of thyme.
The birds on the myrtle bushes,
The cicale above in the lime.
And the lizards below in the grass.
Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was
Listening to my sweet pipings.
Liquid Peneiis was flowing.
And all dark Tempe lay,
In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing
The light of the dying day.
Speeded by my sweet pipings.
The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns,
And the Nymphs of the woods and waves.
To the edge of the moist river-lawns,
And the brink of the dewy caves,
And all that did then attend and follow
Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo,
With envy of my sweet pipings.
THE CLA
I sang of the dandr
I sang of the d
And of Heaven ^ s
And Love, and
And then 1 1
Singing how down i
I pursued a maidi
Gods and men, we i
It hreai^B in our t
All wept, as I thinlt
If e
At the s(
87. Marsyas also was unfort
musical ability. It seems that t
had been thrown away by that
the grimaces which she made w
instrument, blew upon it, and i
he was tempted to challenge A]
The god, of course, triumphed, s
him alive,
88. The Loves of Apollo. Bt
of Thessaly. and the nymph Cly
tioned, Apollo loved the muse
and the nymph Cyrene, whose
tions with other maidens the fol
89. Daphne.^ The lord of t\
perous in his wooing. His first
origin to the malice of Cupi
appears that Apollo, seeing th
arrows, had tauntingly advised
hands worthy of them and conte
Whereupon the son of Venus I
strike all things else, Apollo, bu
So saying, he took his stand
from his quiver two arrows of
excite love, the other t
sharp pointed, the latti
it. The former was of gold aiM
and tipped with lead. With th^
■V -^^r^j,
APOLLO AND DAPHN.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 113
leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river-
god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart.
Forthwith the god was seized with love for the ma den but she,
more than ever, abhorred the thought of loving. Her del ght was
in woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase Spummg all
lovers, she prayed her father that she might remain always unmar-
ried, like Diana, He consented, but, at the same dme warned
her that her beauty would defeat her purpose. It was the face of
this huntress maiden that Apollo saw. He saw
the charming disorder of her hair, and would
have' arranged it ; he saw her eyes bright as
stars ; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied
witli only seeing them. He longed for Daphne.
He followed her ; she fled swifter than the
wind, nor delayed a moment at his entreaties,
"Stay," said he, "daughter of Peneus; I am
not a foe. It is for love I pursue thee, I am no
clown, no rude peasant. Jupiter is my father.
I am lord of Delphi and Tenedos. I know all
things, present and future. I am the god of
song and the lyre.. My arrows fly true to the
mark ; but alas ! an arrow more fatal than mine
has pierced my heart 1 I am the god of medi-
cine and know the virtues of all healing plants.
Alas ! I suffer a malady that no balm can cure."
The nymph continues her flight and leaves
his plea half-uttered. But even as she flies she
charms him. The wind catches her garments,
and her unbound hair streams loose behind her. The god, sped by
Cupid, gains upon her in the race. His panting breath blows upon
her hair. Her strength begins to fail, and, ready to sink, she calls
upon her father, the river-god : " Help me, Peneus ! open the earth
to inclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into
this danger ! " Scarcely had she spoken when a stiffness seized
her hmbs ; and little by little she took on the appearance of a
laurel tree. Apollo embraced the branches and lavished kisses on
the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. " S«\cfe^o\s, •lasi^
Fig. 67. Daphne
114 '^^^ CLASSIC MYTHS
not be my wife/* said he, ** thou shalt assuredly be my tree. I will
wear thee for my crown. I will decorate with thee my harp and my
quiver. When the Roman conquerors conduct the triumphal pomp
to the Capitol, thou shalt be woven into wreaths for their brows.
And, as eternal youth is mine, thou also shalt be always green, and
thy leaf know no decay." The laurel tree bowed its head in grateful
acknowledgment.
The delicious humor of Lowell's extravaganza upon the story
amply justifies the following citation :
Phoebus, sitting one day in a laurel tree's shade,
Was reminded of Daphne, of whom it was made,
For the god being one day too warm in his wooing,
She took to the tree to escape his pursuing ;
Be the cause what it might, from his offers she shrunk.
And, Ginevra-like, shut herself up in a trunk ;
And, though 't was a step into which he had driven her,
He somehow or other had never forgiven her ;
Her memory he nursed as a kind of a tonic.
Something bitter to chew when he 'd play the Byronic,
And I can't count the obstinate nymphs that he brought over
By a strange kind of smile he put on when he thought of her.
" My case is like Dido's," he sometimes remarked ;
" When I last saw my love, she was fairly embarked
In a laurel, as she thought — but (ah, how Fate mocks !)
She has found it by this time a very bad box ;
Let hunters from me take this saw when they need it, —
You 're not always sure of your game when you 've treed it.
Just conceive such a change taking place in one's mistress !
What romance would be left ? — who can flatter or kiss trees ?
And, for mercy's sake, how could one keep up a dialogue
With a dull wooden thing that will live and will die a log, —
Not to say that the thought would forever intrude
That you 've less chance to win her the more she is wood ?
Ah ! it went to my heart, and the memory still grieves,
To see those loved graces all taking their leaves ;
Those charms beyond speech, so enchanting but now.
As they left me forever, each making its bough !
If her tongue had a tang sometimes more than was right.
Her new bark is worse than ten times her old bite." ^
1 From the Fable for Critics.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 1 1 5
90. Marpessa. Another maiden who declined Apollo's love was
Marpessa.^ She is called by Homer ** the fair-ankled daughter of
Evenus/'
The god Apollo from the heaven of heavens
Her mortal sweetness through the air allured ; ^
but Idas, " that was strongest of men that were then on earth," *
carried her off, assisted by Poseidon who gave him a winged chariot.
Her father Evenus vainly tried to catch up with the fleeing
lovers ; but Apollo found them in Messene, and wrested the maiden
away. Then Jupiter, while the lovers were engaged in combat,
separated them, saying, ** Let her decide."
They three together met ; on the one side,
Fresh from diffusing light on all the world
Apollo ; on the other without sleep
Idas, and in the midst Marpessa stood.
Just as a flower after drenching rain,
So from the falling of felicity
Her human beauty glowed, and it was new ;
The bee too near her bosom drowsed and dropped.^
According to the story as romantically told by the English poet
Phillips, first spoke Apollo. The god told her that he dreaded
that one so fair should ever taste of sorrow and death ; how, if she
lived with him, she should bide
In mere felicity above the world
In peace alive and moving, where to stir
Is ecstasy, and thrilling is repose,^
immortal, scattering joy without intermission, lighting the world,
bringing bliss to struggling men and sorrowing women, dispelling
shadows and shadowy fear.
Then Idas, humbly, —
" After such argument what can I plead ?
Or what pale promise make ? Yet since it is
In women to pity rather than to aspire,
A little will I speak."
1 niad, 9, 561 ; Apollodorus, i, 7, § 8. 2 Stephen Phillips, Max^^^'^a.,
Il6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
And he tells her simply that he loves her, — loves her not only for
her beauty, but
" Because Infinity upon thee broods ;
And thou art full of whispers and of shadows ; — "
and because her voice is music, her face mystery beyond his power
to comprehend ; .
" O beauty lone and like a candle clear
In this dark country of the world ! Thou art
My woe, my early light, my music dying."
And Marpessa ? —
As he was sjpeaking, she with lips apart
Breathed, and with dimmer eyes leaned through the mr
As one in dream, and now his human hand
Took in her own ; and to Apollo spoke, —
saying that she knew how sweet it might be forever with a god
to aid suffering men and women and ** gild the face that from its
dead looks up'*; but still she feared immortality, for, though d)ang
not, she must grow old, and her god lover would tire of her when
once her youth was faded. And as for that ** existence without
tears for evermore " which he promised, —
" Yet I being human, human sorrow miss.
The half of music, I hav6 heard men say,
Is to have grieved."
To sorrow she was bom. It is out of sadness that men have made
this world beautiful. If she chooses Idas, then they two will pros-
per together, grow old together, and last descend into the " natural
ground," and " leave behind a wholesome memory on the earth."
When she had spoken, Idas with one cry
Held her, and there was silence ; while the god
In anger disappeaied. Then slowly they.
He looking downward, and she gazing up.
Into the evening green wandered away.
91. Clytie.^ In the story of Clytie the conditions are reversed.
She was a water-nymph and in love with Apollo, who made her
1 Ovid, Metam. 4, 256-370.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN iif
no return. So she pined away, sitting all day long upon the cold
ground with her unbound tresses streaming over her shoulders.
Nine days she sat, and tasted neither food nor drink, — her own
tears and the chilly dew her only sustenance. She gazed on the sun
when he rose ; and as he passed through his daily course to his set-
ting, she saw no other object, — her eyes fixed constantly on him.
At last, they say, her limbs took root in the ground and her face
became a flower, turning on its stem to follow the journeying sun.
In the following lines, Thomas Moore
uses the flower as an emblem of constancy :
The heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close ;
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look that she turned when he rose.
92, Myths of Diana. In company with her
radiant brother, we find Diana subduing Tityus
and the Python and assisting in the punish-
ment of Niobe. The speedy transformation of
Daphne has been attributed to this goddess, the
champion of maidenhood. According to some,
it was she, too, that changed Callisto into a bear,
when for love of Jupiter that nymph deserted
the huntress-band. Numerous are the myths
that celebrate the severity of the goddess of the
unerring bow toward those who offended her.
How she served Agamemnon for slaying one
of her hinds is told in the story of Troy ;^ how
she punished CEneus for omitting a sacrifice Eo
her is narrated in the episode of the Calydonian hunt.* Similar
attributes of the goddess are exemplified in the myths of Arethusa,
Actaeon, and Orion. It is only when she is identified with Selene,
the peaceful moonlight, that we perceive a softer side of character,
such as that displayed in her relations with Endymion,
93. The Flif^t of Arethusa.^ A woodland nymph of Elis was
this Arethusa ; she delighted not in her comeliness, but in the
1(196.
» 5 i68.
;, s8i-64i.
lift THE CLASSIC MYTHS
joys of the chase. One day, returning from the wood heated with
exercise, she descended to a stream silently flowing, so clear that
you might count the pebbles on the bottom. She laid aside her
garments ; but while she sported in the water, she heard an indis-
tinct murmur rising as out of the depths of the stream. She made
haste to reach the nearest bank, A voice followed her, " Why
flyest thou, Arethusa.' Alpheiis am I, the god of this stream."
The nymph ran, the god pursued. Arethusa,
at last exhausted, cried for help to Diana, who,
hearing, wrapped her votary in a thick cloud.
Perplexed, the river-god still sought the trem-
bling maiden. But a cold sweat came over her.
In less time than it takes to tell, she had become
a fountain. Alpheiis attempted then to mingle
Fig 6q Arethusa ^^ Stream with hers. But the Cynthian queen
cleft the ground, and Arethusa, still endeav-
oring to escape, plunged into the abyss and, passing through the
bowels of the earth, came out in Sicily, still followed by the pas-
sionate river-god.
94. Shelley's Arethusa. In the following version of the pur-
suit, Arethusa was already a river when Alpheus espied her.
Arethusa arose
From her couch of snows
In the Acroceraunian mountains, —
From cloud and from crag,
With many a jag,
Shepherding her bright fountains,
She leapt down the rocks.
With her rainbow locks
Streaming among the streams ; —
Her steps paved with green
The downward ravine
Which slopes to the western gleams:
And gliding and springing
She went, ever singing,
In murmurs as soft as sleep;
The Earth seemed to love her.
And Heaven smiled above her.
As she lingered towards the deep.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF UEAVEH 119
Then Alpheiis bold
On his glacier cold,
With his trident the mountain stroolt
And opened a chasm
In the rocks ; — with the spasm
All Eiymanthus shook.
And the black south wind
It concealed behind
The urns of ihe silent snow,
And earthquake and thunder
Did rend in sunder
The bars of the springs below ;
The beard and the hair
Of the River-god were
Seen through the torrent's sweep,
As he followed the light
Of the fleet nymph's flight
To the brink of the Dorian deep.
"Oh, save me! Oh, guide me 1
And bid the deep hide me,
For he grasps me now by the hair 1 "
The loud Ocean heard.
To its blue depth stirred, Fi
And divided at her prayer ;
And under the water
The Earth's white daughter
Fled like a sunny beam ;
Behind her descended
Her billows unblended
With the brackish Dorian stream : —
Like a gloomy stain
On the emerald main,
Alphefis rushed behind, —
As an eagle pursuing
Down the streams of the cloudy wind.
Under the bowers
Where the Ocean Powers
Sit on their pearled thrones,
Through the coral woods
Of the weltering floods,
I20 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Over heaps of unvalued stones ;
Through the dim beams
Which amid the streams
Weave a network of colored light ;
And under the caves,
Where the shadowy waves
Are as green as the forest's night :
Outspeeding the shark,
And the swordfish dark.
Under the ocean foam,
And up through the rifts
Of the mountain clifts
They past to their Dorian home.
And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the mpming basks;
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep
In the cave of the shelving hill ;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of Asphodel :
And at night they sleep
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore ; —
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more.
95. The Fate of Actseon.^ Diana's severity toward young Ac-
taeon, grandson of Cadmus whose kindred fell under the curse of
Mars, is thus narrated.
One day, having repaired to a valley inclosed by C)q3resses and
pines, where gushed a fountain of sparkling water, the chaste Diana
handed her javelin, her quiver, and her bow to one nymph, her
robe to another, while a third unbound the sandals from her feet.
Then Crocale, the most skillful of them, arranged her hair, and
1 Ovid, Metam. 3, 138-252.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 121
Nephele, Hyale, and the rest drew water in capacious urns. While
the huntress queen was thus employed in the tabors of the toilet,
Actason, the son of Autonoe and Aristasus, having quitted his com-
panions of the chase and rambling without any especial object, came
to the place, led thither by his destiny. As he presented himself at
the entrance of the cave, the nymphs, seeing a man, screamed and
rushed towards the goddess to hide her with their bodies. But she
was taller than the rest and overtopped them all by a head. Such
a color as tinges the clouds at sunset or at dawn came over the
FlC. 71. ACTJBOtt
countenance of Diana, thus taken by surprise. Surrounded as she
was by her nymphs, she yet turned half away and sought with a
sudden impulse for her arrows. As they were not at hand, she
dashed the water into the face of the intruder, saying, " Now go
and tell, if you can, that you have seen Diana unappareled." Im-
mediately a pair of branching stag's horns grew out of the hunts-
man's head, his neck gained in length, his ears grew sharp-pointed,
his hands became feet, his arms, his long legs, and his body were
covered with a hairy spotted hide. Fear took the place of his
former boldness, and the hero fled. What should he do ? — go
home to the palace or lie hid in the woods ? While he hesitated ,
122 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
his dogs saw him. Over rocks and cliffs, through mountain gorges
that seemed impracticable, he fled, and they followed. The air
resounded with the bark of the dogs. Presently one fastened on
his back, another seized his shoulder ; the rest of the pack came
up and buried their teeth in his flesh. His friends and fellow-
huntsmen cheered on the dogs, and, looking everywhere for Actaeon,
called on him to join the sport. At the sound of his name, he
turned his head and heard them regret that he should be away.
He earnestly wished he was. But Diana had no pity for him, nor
was her anger appeased till the dogs had torn his life out.
96. The Fortunes and Death of Orion. Orion, the son of Nep-
tune, was a giant and a mighty hunter, whose prowess and manly
favor gained for him the rare good will of Diana.
It is related that he loved Merope, the daughter of CEnopion,
king of Chios, and sought her in marriage. He cleared the island
of wild beasts and brought the spoils of the chase as presents to
his beloved; but as CEnopion constantly deferred his consent,
Orion attempted to gain possession of the maiden by violence.
Her father, incensed at his conduct, made Orion drunk, deprived
him of his sight, and cast him out on the seashore. The blinded
hero, instructed by an oracle to seek the rays of morning, followed
the sound of a Cyclops' hammer till he reached Lemnos, where
Vulcan, taking pity on him, gave him Cedalion, one of his men,
to be his guide to the abode of the sun. Placing Cedalion on his
shoulders, Orion proceeded to the east, and there meeting the sun-
god, was restored to sight by his beam.^
After this he dwelt as a hunter with the queen of the echoing
chase ; and it was even hinted that she loved him. Her brother,
highly displeased, often chid her, but to no purpose. One day,
therefore, observing Orion as he waded through the sea with his
head just above the water, Apollo pointed out the black object to
his sister, and maintained that she could not hit it. The archer
goddess discharged a shaft with fatal aim : the waves rolled the
dead body of Orion to the land. Then bewailing her fatal error
with many tears, Diana placed him among the stars, where he
appears as a giant, with a girdle, sword, lion's skin, and club.
1 ApoUodorus, x, 4, { 3.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 123
Sirius, his dog, follows him, and the Pleiads fly before him,^ In
the beginning of winter, all through the night, Orion follows the
chase across the heavens ; but with dawn he sinks toward the
waters of his father Neptune, In the beginning of summer, he
may be seen with daybreak in the eastern sky, where, beloved by
Aurora, he remains gradually paling before the light of day till,
finally, Diana, jealous of his happiness, draws her gentle darts
and slays him.
97. The Pleiads,'' who still fly before Orion in the heavens,
were daughters of Atlas, and nymphs of Diana's train. One day
Fig. 72. The Pleiades
From the painting b; Vedder
Onon saw them m Bo^otia, became enamored of them, and gave
pursuit In their distress they prayed to the gods to change their
form Jupiter, accordingly, turned them into pigeons, and made
them a constellation Though their number was seven, only six
stars are visible , for Electra, it is said, left her place that she
might not behold the ruin of Troy, which had been founded by
124
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
her son Dardanus. The sight had such an effect on her sistrt
that they blanched, and have been pale ever since. But Electn
became a comet ; her hair floating wildly behind her, she stil
inconsolably ranges the expanse of heaven. According to some
the lost Pleiad is Merope, who was vested with mortality in conse
quenct f li i mm i in-^' wiih ihe mortal Sisyphus, king of Corinth
Tennyson's reference
~^f^l^ to the Pleiads, in " Locks
ley Hall," is of cours*
familiar to all readers.
98. EndymiOB.
frequent absence of DiaiU
from her duties m heava
IS said to ha\e aviakenet
suspicion among the de»
ties of 01)mpus
doubted whether she ai
dllj occupied the<;e intei.
\als with hunting
LdS) to imagine the s
faction with w hich Venus,
who so often had been
reproached bv Diana with
her undue fondness i
beautiful jouths woulc
welcome news of ^ corr©
spcinding weakness on the
part of the cold-hearted
and apparently unyieldin
huntress queen. And such satisfaction Venus once enjoyed, if w
may trust the later classical and the modern poets who have idea
tified Diana with Selene, the more ancient goddess of the moon.
For, one calm, clear night Selene looked down upon the beau
tiful Endymion, who fed his flock on Mount Latmos, and ;
him sleeping. The heart of the goddess was unquestionably warmet
by his surpassing beauty. She came down to him ; she kissed him ;
she watched over him while he slept. She visited him again a
Fig. 73, Enovmio
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 125
again. But her secret could not long be hidden from the company
of 01)anpus. For more and more frequently she was absent from
her station in the sky, and toward morning she was ever paler
and more weary with her watching. When, finally, her love was
discovered, Jupiter gave End)nnion, who had been thus honored,
a choice between death in any manner that was preferable, or per-
petual youth united with perpetual sleep. Endymion chose the
latter. He still sleeps in his Carian cave, and still the mistress of
the moon slips from her nocturnal course to visit him. She takes
care, too, that his fortunes shall not suffer by his inactive life :
she yields his flock increase, and guards his sheep and lambs from
beasts of prey.^
Keats, whose Endymion journeys on a mission under sea, thus
describes a meeting of the goddess and her lover :
On gold sand impearled
With lily shells and pebbles milky white,
Poor Cynthia greeted him, and soothed her light
Against his pallid fftce : he felt the charm
To breathlessness, and suddenly a warm
Of his heart's blood : 't was very sweet ; he stayed
His wandering steps, and half-entranced laid
His head upon a tuft of straggling weeds.
To taste the gentle moon, and freshening beads.
Lashed from the crystal roof by fishes' tails.
And so he kept, until the rosy veils.
Mantling the east, by Aurora's peering hand
Were lifted from the water's breast, and fanned
Into sweet air; and sobered morning came
Meekly through billows ; — when like taper-fiame
Left sudden by a dallying breath of air.
He rose in silence, and once more 'gan fare
Along his fated way.^
99. Myths of Venus. Round the goddess of love cluster
romances of her own tender passion, of the affairs of the winged
Cupid, and of the loves of the worshipers at her shrine. Of the
affection of Venus for Mars and of her relations with Anchises,^
1 Authorities are Pausanias, 5, i, §§ 2-4 ; Ovid, Ars. Am. 3, 83 ; Tristia, 2, 299 ; ApoUonius,
gnd Apollodorus, ? From the Endymion, Bk, 3. * \ \<^%
126 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the father of -^neas, mention is elsewhere made. The following
is the myth of Venus and Adonis.
100. Adonis.^ The sweetly smiling goddess, playing one day
with her boy Cupid, wounded her bosom with one of his arrows.
Before the wound healed, she looked upon Adonis, the son of
Cinyras and Myrrha, and was captivated by him. She no longer
took any interest in her favorite resorts, — Paphos, and Cnidos,
and Amathus, rich in metals. She absented herself even from
Olympus, for Adonis was dearer to her than heaven. Him she
followed and bore him company. She who loved to recline in
the shade, with no care but to cultivate her charms, now rambled
through the woods and over the hills, girt like the huntress Diana.
She chased game that is safe to hunt, but kept clear of the wolves
and bears. She charged Adonis, too, to beware of dangerous
animals. ** Be brave toward the timid," she would say, " courage
against the courageous is not safe." Having thus, on one occasion,
warned him, she mounted her chariot drawn by swans and drove
away through the air. But Adonis was too noble to heed such
counsels. The dogs had roused a wild boar from his lair, and the
youth threw his spear and wounded the animal with a sidelong
stroke. The beast drew out the weapon with his jaws, and, rushing
after Adonis, buried his tusks in the lad's side, and stretched him
dying upon the plain. The rest of the story is thus recounted : •
THE LAMENT FOR ADONIS «
. . . Low on the hills is lying the lovely Adonis, and his thigh with the
boar's tusk, his white thigh with the boar's tusk, is wounded ; and sorrow on
Cypris he brings, as softly he breathes his life away.
His dark blood drips down his skin of snow ; beneath his brows his eyes
wax heavy and dim ; and the rose flees from his lip, and thereon the very kiss
is dying, the kiss that Cypris will never forego.
. . . She hath lost her lovely lord, with him she hath lost her sacred beauty.
Fair was the form of Cypris while Adonis was living, but her beauty has died
with Adonis! Woey woe for Cypris ^ the mountains all are saying. And the
1 Ovid, Metam. lo, 503-559, 708-739.
3 From an elegy intended to be sung at one of the spring celebrations in memory of
Adonis. Translated from Bion by Andrew Lang. Cypris, Cytherea, and the Paphian refer
to Venus. See Commentaiy. This elegy is also translated by Mrs. Browning and by Sir
Edwin Arnold.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 127 1
nalr trpps nnanupr ItAjr fnr A^nuit 1 ~- 1
UdK UCCS dllbWCI, ft tic J VT ^IttrniA .- — — - ^
And the rivers bewail the sorrows of
LJU^JHi^OiiJ,^^^
Aphrodite, and the wells are weeping
^™P^^'^w^^^^
Adonis on the mountains. The flowers
■^J^^^^^^nnC^^.
flush red for anguish, and Cytherea
■Mi^^^^^^^S
through all the mountain-knees, through
Wm^^^^m^^^B
every dell, doth shrill ihe piteous dirge :
^^^^^S
IVoi:, -woe for Cytherea, he hath
perished, the lovely Adonis .'
r^^^^^^^^* uii
. . . When she saw, when she
l^iifc^ jihJr^^^a, \\\
marked the un stanched wound of
Erl^^^^^^^^ I/l
Adonis, when she saw the bright red
blood about his languid thigh, she cast
^^^^^^m
her arms abroad, and moaned, "Abide
with me, Adonis, hapless Adonis, abide !
B|^^K^^^^^^M,y
, . . Awake, Adonis, for a little while,
^^^l^^^^^^^Mt
2
H and kiss me yet again, the latest kiss !
Br^I^^
1
^■U . . This kiss will 1 treasure, even as
<
Bgiyself, Adonis, since, ah, ill-fated, thou
iP^ i^M^^^^^
s
^But fleeing me, thou art fleeing far.
^^» i^^^^^^^ri
^^adonis, and art faring to Acheron,
I^^^Lil^^^^^^/ ^rf
1
^^Bo that hateful king and cruel, while
■n^ Wv^i^??^ I
^^*retched I yet live, being a goddess,
15^ ^^*!;^v^iiL l)
s
and may not follow thee ! Persephone,
^Utmh^}' ±'.^^3
H
take thou my lover, my lord, for thy-
^^^^^^M-^^^nf
4
self art stronger than 1, and all lovely
llHfc^^'^^^gMj^^
d
things drift down to thee. But 1 am
^S^^lj^^^^^4ut
h
ili-fated, inconsolable Is my anguish;
nj^^^^^^^^SS
and I lament inine Adonis, dead to me.
H^^^^^^^^mM
and I have no rest for sorrow.
B^'^i^fa^^Hgj^^jillK
" Thou diest, oh, thrice-desired, and
P^^^^^^^^^^^
my desire hath flown away as a dream !
K>^y^^5^^^J
Nay, widowed is Cytherea, and idle are
^s;f^^^3^^^^ 1
the Loves alongthehalU! With thee has
^r'^^^S^ iff^^
the girdle of my beauty perished. For
^TsP^^vti^^^^
why, ah, overbold, didst thou follow the
^^^^^^s
chase, and being so fair, why wert thou
thus overhardy to fight with beasts? "
i!' '■ ''"""^Jv^
So Cj'pris bewailed her, the Loves
■:■§»
join in the lament ;
■ iVoe, ■a'oe for Cytherea, he hath
; -..^ — "-"'"^^
^^^^^^^^^^^■^^^k
^^^1
128 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
A tear the Paphian sheds for each blood-drop of Adonis, and tears and
blood on the earth are turned to flowers. The blood brings forth the rose ;
the tears, the wind-flower.
Woe, woe for Adonis, he hath perished, the lovely Adonis !
. . . Cease, Cytherea, from thy lamentations, to-day refrain from thy dirges.
Thou must again bewail him, again must weep for him another year.
101. Cupid and Psyche.^ A certain king and queen had three
daughters. The charms of the two elder were more than common,
but the beauty of the youngest was such that the poverty of lan-
guage is unable to express its praise. In fact, Venus found her
altars deserted, while men paid their vows to this virgin. When
Psyche passed, the people sang her praises and strewed her way
with chaplets and flowers.
This perversion of homage gave great offense to Venus, who
complained that Paris might just as well not have yielded her the
palm of beauty over Pallas and Juno, if a mortal were thus to usurp
her honors. Wherefore she called Cupid and, pointing out Psyche
to him, bade him infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a
passion for some low, unworthy being.
There were in Venus's garden two fountains, — one of sweet
waters, the other of bitter. Cupid filled two amber vases, one from
each fountain, and suspending them from the top of his quiver,
hastened to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He
shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, though
the sight of her almost moved him to pity ; and then he touched
her side with the point of his arrow. She awoke, and opening
her eyes upon Cupid (himself invisible), so startled him that in
his confusion he wounded himself with his arrow. Heedless of
his wound, his thought now was to repair the mischief he had
done. He poured, at once, the waters of joy over her silken
ringlets.
But Psyche, henceforth frowned upon by Venus, derived no
benefit from her charms. Her two elder sisters had long been
married to princes ; but Psyche's beauty failed to awaken love.
Consequently her parents, afraid that they had unwittingly in-
curred the anger of the gods, consulted the oracle of Apollo,
I Apuleius^ Mctam. Golden Ass, 4, 28^ et^,
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 129.
They received answer, " The virgin is destined for the bride of no
mortal lover. Her husband awaits her on the top of the mountain.
He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist."
This dreadful decree of the oracle filled the people with dis-
may; but, at Psyche's request, preparations for her fate were
made. The royal maid took her place in a procession, which
more resembled a funeral than a nuptial pomp, and with her
parents, amid the lamentations of their subjects, ascended the
mountain, where she was left alone.
While Psyche stood there, panting with fear and with eyes full
of tears, the gentle Zephyr lifted her and, with an easy motion,
bore her to a flowery dale. By degrees her mind became com-
posed, and she laid herself down on the grassy bank to sleep.
When she awoke refreshed with sleep, she beheld near by a
pleasant grove of tall and stately trees. Entering, she discovered
in the midst a fountain, and fast by a palace whose august front
showed that it was not the work of mortal hands, but the happy
retreat of some god. She approached the building and entered.
Every object she met filled her with pleasure and amazement.
Golden pillars supported the vaulted roof, and the walls were
enriched with carvings and paintings that represented beasts of
the chase and rural scenes. Other apartments were filled with
still other beautiful and precious productions of nature and art.
While her eyes were thus occupied, the voice of an invisible
being addressed her : *' Sovereign lady, all that thou beholdest is
thine. We whose voices thou dost hear are thy servants. Retire,
we pray thee, to thy chamber, repose on thy bed of down, and
when it may please thee repair to the bath. Food awaits in the
adjoining alcove."
After repose and the refreshment of the bath. Psyche seated
herself in the alcove, where, without any visible aid, a table imme-
diately presented itself, covered with delicacies and nectareous
wines. Her ears, too, were delighted with music from invisible
performers.
For a long time she did not see her husband. He came in the
hours of darkness and fled before the dawn of morning ; but his
accents were full of love and inspired a like pass\.otv\xv\\<et» OV^xs.
130
the th
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
^H she begged him to stay and let her behold him, but he would not
^H consent. "Having looked upon me," he said, "mayhap thou
^H wouldst fear, mayhap adore, me ; but all I ask of thee is love. I
^H would rather thou shouldst love me as an equal than adore me as
^V a god This reasoning somewhat quieted Psyche for a time But
^^^ *^ nts and of her sisters left in ignorance
of her fate pre> ed on her
mind to such a degree that
at last telling her distress
to her lord she drew fiom
him an unwilling consent
that her sisters should be
brought to see her
Zephjr promptly obe
dient soon brought them
across the mountain down
to their sister s valley Th^
embraced her She returned
their caresses, and then com-
mitted them to the care of
her attendant voices, who
should refresh them in her
bath and at her table, and
show them her treasures.
The view of these delights
caused envy to enter their
bosoms. They plied their
fortunate sister with ques-
tions about her husband.
Psyche replied that he was
a beautiful youth, who generally spent the daytime in hunting
upon the mountains. The sisters, not satisfied with this reply,
soon made her confess that she had never seen him, Then they
proceeded to fill her bosom with dark suspicions. Probably her
husband was a dreadful monster, such as the Pythian oracle had
prophesied. Probably he was a direful serpent, who nourished
her now to devour her by and by. They advised her to provide
m the painting by Thun
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 131
herself against the night with a lamp and a sharp knife, told her
what to do if her husband turned out the monster that they sur-
mised, and, so saying, departed.
These persuasions Psyche resisted as well as she could, but they
did not fail to have their effect on her mind. She prepared a lamp
and a sharp knife, and hid them out of sight of her husband. That
night, when he had fallen into his first sleep, she silently rose and
uncovering her lamp —
Scarce kept back a cry
At what she saw ; for there before her lay
The very Love brighter than dawn of day ;
And as he lay there smiling, her own name
His gentle lips in sleep began to frame,
And, as to touch her face, his hand did move ;
O then, indeed, her faint heart swelled for love,
And she began to sob, and tears fell fast
Upon the bed. — But as she turned at last
To quench the lamp, there happed a little thing
That quenched her new delight, for flickering
The treacherous flame cast on his shoulder fair
A burning drop ; he woke, and seeing her there
The meaning of that sad sight knew full well.
Nor was there need the piteous tale to tell.^
Without a word, Cupid spread his white wings, and flew out of
window. Psyche, in vain endeavoring to follow, fell to the earth.
For but an instant Cupid, staying, reproached her with distrust of
him. '' No other punishment inflict I than to leave thee forever.
Love cannot dwell with suspicion." And so he flew away.
When Psyche kad recovered some degree of composure, she
looked around her. The palace and gardens had vanished. She
found herself not far from the city where her sisters dwelt.
Thither she repaired, and told them the story of her misfortunes,
whereat they inwardly rejoiced. ** For now," thought they, ** he
will perhaps choose one of us." With this idea, they rose early
the next morning and, ascending the mountain, each called upon
Zephyr to receive her and bear her to his lord ; then, leaping up,
1 William Morris, The Story of Cupid and Psyche, in The E.M\ivV^ '^^x^vafc.
132 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
failed of the support of Zephyr, fell down the precipice, and was
dashed to pieces.
Psyche, meanwhile, wandered day and night, without food or
repose, in search of her husband. But he was lying heartsick in
the chamber of his mother; and that goddess was absent upon her
own affairs. Then the white sea gull which floats over the waves
dived into the middle deep,
And rowing with his glistening wings arrived
At Aphrodite's bower beneath the sea.
She, as yet unaware of her son's mischance, was joyously consort-
ing with her handmaidens ; but he, the sea gull.
But he with garrulous and laughing tongue
Broke up his news ; how Eros fallen sick
Lay tossing on his bed, to frenzy stung
By such a bum as did but barely prick :
A little bleb, no bigger than a pease,
Upon his shoulder 't was, that killed his ease.
Fevered his heart, and made his breathing thick.
" For which disaster hath he not been seen
This many a day at all in any place :
And thou, dear mistress," said he, " hast not been
Thyself among us now a dreary space :
And pining mortals suffer from a dearth
Of love ; and for this sadness of the earth
Thy family is darkened with disgrace. . . .
" 'T is plain that, if thy pleasure longer pause.
Thy mighty rule on earth hath seen its day :
The race must come to perish, and no catse
But that thou sittest with thy njrmphs at play.
While on the Cretan hills thy truant boy
Has with his pretty mistress turned to toy,
And, less for pain than love, now pines away." ^
And Venus cried angrily, ** My son, then, has a mistress I And
it is Psyche, who witched away my beauty and was the rival of my
godhead, whom he loves ! "
1 Robert Bridges, Eros and Psyche.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 1 33
Therewith she issued from the sea, and, returning to her golden
chamber, found there the lad sick, as she had heard, and cried
from the doorway, ** Well done, truly ! to trample thy mother's
precepts under foot, to spare my enemy that cross of an unworthy
love ; nay, unite her to thyself, child as thou art, that I might have
a daughter-in-law who hates me ! I will make thee repent of thy
sport, and the savor of thy marriage bitter. There is one who shall
chasten this body of thine, put out thy torch, and unstring thy bow.
Not till she has plucked forth that hair, into which so oft these
hands have smoothed the golden light, and sheared away thy
wings, shall I feel the injury done me avenged." And with this
she hastened in anger from the doors.
And Ceres and Juno met her, and sought to know the meaning
of her troubled countenance. ** Ye come in season," she cried ; ** I
pray you, find for me Psyche. It must needs be that ye have heard
die disgrace of my house." And they, ignorant of what was done,
would have soothed her anger, sa)dng, ** What fault. Mistress, hath
thy son committed, that thou wouldst destroy the girl he loves ?
Knowest thou not that he is now of age } Because he wears his
years so lightly must he seem to thee ever to be a child ? Wilt
thou forever thus pry into the pastimes of thy son, always accusing
his wantonness, and blaming in him those delicate wiles which are
all thine own .?" Thus, in secret fear of the boy's bow, did they
seek to please him with their gracious patronage. But Venus,
angry at their light taking of her wrongs, turned her back upon
them, and with hasty steps made her way once more to the sea.^
And soon after. Psyche herself reached the temple of Ceres,
where she won the favor of the goddess by arranging in due order
the heaps of mingled grain and ears and the carelessly scattered
harvest implements that lay there. The holy Ceres then coun-
seled her to submit to Venus, to try humbly to win her forgive-
ness, and, mayhap, through her favor regain the lover that
was lost.
Obeying the commands of Ceres, Psyche took her way to the
temple of the golden-crowned C3rpris. That goddess received her
with angry countenance, called her an undutiful and faithless
1 The last three paragraphs are from Pater's version m Marius the Epicurean.
134 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
servant, taunted her with the wound given to her husband, and
insisted that for so ill-favored a girl there was no way of meriting a
lover save by dint of industry. Thereupon she ordered Psyche to
be led to the storehouse of the temple, where was laid up a great
quantity of wheat, barley, millet, yetches, beans, and lentils pre-
pared for food for her pigeons, and gave order, ** Take and sepa-
rate all these grains, putting all of the same kind in a parcel by
themselves, — and see that thou get it done before evening/* This
said, Venus departed and left the girl to her task. But Psyche, in
perfect consternation at the enormous task, sat stupid and silent ;
nor would the work have been accomplished had not Cupid stirred
up the ants to take compassion on her. They separated the pile,
sorting each kind to its parcel and vanishing out of sight in a
moment.
At the approach of twilight, Cytherea returned from the banquet
of the gods, breathing odors and crowned with roses. Seeing the
task done, she promptly exclaimed, **This is no work of thine,
wicked one, but his, whom to thine own and his misfortune thou
hast enticed," — threw the girl a piece of black bread for her
supper, and departed.
Next morning, however, the goddess, ordering Psyche to be sum-
moned, commanded her to fetch a sample of wool gathered from
each of the golden-shining sheep that fed beyond a neighboring
river. Obediently the princess went to the riverside, prepared to
do her best to execute the command. But the god of that stream
inspired the reeds with harmonious murmurs that dissuaded her
from venturing among the golden rams while they raged under
the influence of the rising sun. Psyche, observing the directions
of the compassionate river-god, crossed when the noontide sun
had driven the cattle to the shade, gathered the woolly gold from
the bushes where it was clinging, and returned to Venus with her
arms full of the shining fleece. But, far from commending her,
that implacable mistress said, ** I know very well that by the aid of
another thou hast done this ; not yet am I assured that thou hast
skill to be of use. Here, now, take this box to Proserpine and say,
* My mistress Venus entreats thee to send her a little of thy beauty,
for in tending her sick son she hath lost some of her own.' "
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 135
Psyche, satisfied that her destruction was at hand, doomed as
she was to travel afoot to Erebus, thought to shorten the journey
by precipitating herself at once from the summit of a tower. But
a voice from the tower, restraining her from this rash purpose,
explained how by a certain cave she might reach the realm of
Pluto ; how she might avoid the peril of the road, pass by Cer-
berus, and prevail on Charon to take her across the black river
and bring her back again. The voice, also, especially cautioned her
against prying into the box filled with the beauty of Proserpine.
So, taking heed to her ways, the unfortunate girl traveled safely
to the kingdom of Pluto. She was admitted to the palace of
Proserpine, where, contenting herself with plain fare instead of the
delicious banquet that was offered her, she delivered her message
from Venus. Presently the box, filled with the precious commodity,
was restored to her ; and glad was she to come out once more into
the light of day.
But having got so far successfully through her dangerous task, a
desire seized her to examine the contents of the box, and to spread
the least bit of the divine beauty on her cheeks that she might
appear to more advantage in the eyes of her beloved husband.
Therewith down by the wayside did she sit
And turned the box round, long regarding it ;
But at the last, with trembling hands, undid
The clasp, and fearfully raised up the lid ;
But what was there she saw not, for her head
Fell back, and nothing she remembered
Of all her life, yet nought of rest she had.
The hope of which makes hapless mortals glad ;
For while her limbs were sunk in deadly sleep
Most like to death, over her heart 'gan creep
111 dreams ; so that for fear and great distress
She would have cried, but in her helplessness
Could open not her mouth, or frame a word.^
But Cupid, now recovered from his wound, slipped through a
crack in the window of his chamber, flew to the spot where his
beloved lay, gathered up the sleep from her body and inclosed it
1 William Morris, The Earthly Paradise.
136 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
again in the box, then waked Psyche with the touch of an arrow.
"Again," said he, "hast thou almost perished by thy curiosity.
But now perform the task
imposed upon thee by my
mother, and I will care
for the rest.
Then Cupid, swift as
lightning penetrating the
heights of heaven, pre-
sented himself before Jupi-
ter with his supplication.
Jupiter lent a favoring ear
and pleaded the cause of
the lovers with Venus.
Gaining her consent, he
ordered Mercury to con-
vey Psyche to the heavenly
abodes. On her advent,
the king of the immortals,
handing her a cup of am-
brosia, said, " Drink this.
Psyche, and be immortal.
Thy Cupid shall never break
from the knot in which he
is tied ; these nuptials shall
indeed be perpetual."
From the painting by Thun
Thus Psyche vras at last united to Cupid ; and in due season a
daughter was bom to them whose name was Pleasure.
The aliegoiy of Cupid and Psyche is well presented in the follow-
ing lines :
They wove bright fables in the days of old,
When reason borrowed fancy's painted wings;
When truth's dear river flowed o'er sanda of gold,
And told in song its high and mystic things.'
And such the sweet and solemn tale of her
The pilgrim-heart, to whom a dream was given,
That led her through the world, — Love's worshiper, —
To seek on earth for him whose home was hcftven !
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 137
In the full dty, — by the haunted fount, —
Through the dim grotto's tracery of spars, —
'Mid the pine temples, on the moonlit mount,
Where silence sits to listen to the stars ;
In the deep glade where dwells the brooding dove,
The painted valley, and the scented air.
She heard far echoes of the voice of Love,
And found his footsteps' traces everywhere.
But never more they met ! since doubts and fears.
Those phantom-shapes that haunt and blight the earth,
Had come 'twixt her, a child of sin and tears,
And that bright spirit of immortal birth ;
Until her pining soul and weeping eyes
Had learned to seek him only in the skies ; '
Till wings unto the weary heart were given,
And she became Love's angel bride in heaven ! ^
The story of Cupid and Psyche first appears in the works of
Apuleius, a writer of the second century of our era. It is there-
fore of much more recent date than most of the classic myths.
102. Keats' Ode to Psyche. To this fact allusion is made in the
following poem :
0 Goddess ! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear.
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
Even into thine own soft-conchM ear :
Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see
The winged Psyche with awakened eyes ?
1 wandered in a forest thoughtlessly,
And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise.
Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side
In deepest grass, beneath the whispering roof
Of leaves and tumbled blossoms, where there ran
A brooklet, scarce espied !
'Mid hushed, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed.
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian,
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass ;
Their arms embraced, and their pinions, too ;
Their lips touched not, but had not bade adieu,
1 By T. K. Hervoy.
138 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
At tender eye-dawn of Aurorean love :
The winged boy I knew :
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove ?
His Psyche true !
O latest bom and loveliest vision far
Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy !
Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-regioned star.
Or Vesper, amorous glowworm of the sky ;
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
Nor altar heaped with flowers ;
Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan
' Upon the midnight hours ;
No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet
From chain-swung censer teeming ;
No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat
Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming.
0 brightest ! though too late for antique vows
Too, too late for the fond believing lyre.
When holy were the haunted forest boughs.
Holy the air, the water, and the fire ;
Yet even in these days so far retired
From happy pieties, thy lucent fans.
Fluttering among the faint Olympians,
1 see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan
Upon the midnight hours ;
Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet
From swinged censer teeming.
Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming.
Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind.
Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain.
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind :
Far, far around shall those dark clustered trees
Fledge the wild-ridgM mountains steep by steep ;
And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds and bees.
The moss-lain Dryads shall be lulled to sleep ;
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 139
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreath^ trellis of a working brain,
With buds, and bells, and stars without a name.
With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign,
Who breeding flowers, will never breed the sarae;
And there shall be for thee all soft delight
That shadowy thought can win,
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night.
To let the warm Love in !
The loves of the devotees of Venus are as the sands of the sea
for number. Below are given the fortunes of a few : Hippomenes,
Hero, Pygmalion, Pyramus, and Phaon, The
favor of the goddess toward Paris, who awarded
her the palm of beauty in preference to Juno
and Minerva, will occupy our attention in con-
nection with the story of the Trojan War.
103. Atalanta's Race.' Atalanta, the daugh-
ter of Schceneus of Bceotia, had been warned
by an oracle that marriage would be fatal to her
happiness. Consequently she fled the society
of men and devoted herself to the sports of the
chase. Fair, fearless, swift, and free, in beauty
and in desire she was a Cynthia, — of mortal
form and with a woman's heart. To all suitors
(for she had many) she made answer : " I will
be the prize of him only who shall conquer me
in the race ; but death must be the penalty of
all who tiy and fail." In spite of this hard con-
dition some would try. Of one such race Hip-
pomenes was to be judge. It was his thought,
at first, that these suitors risked too much for ^''^ Hff^^j"'^
a wife. But when he saw Atalanta lay aside her
robe for the race with one of them, he changed his mind and
began to swell with envy of whomsoever seemed likely to win.
The virgin darted forward. As she ran she looked more beauti-
ful than ever. The breezes gave wings to her feet ; her hair flew
1 Ovid, Metam. lo, 560-6S0.
r40 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
over her shoulders, and the gay fringe of her garment fluttered
behind her. A ruddy hue tinged the whiteness of her skin, such
as a crimson curtain casts on a marble wall. Her competitor was
distanced and was put to death without mercy. Hippomenes, not
daunted by this result, fixed his eyes on the virgin and said, " Why
boast of beating those laggards? I offer myself for the contest."
Atalanta looked at him with pity in her face and hardly knew
whether she would rather conquer so goodly a youth or not. While
Fia. 78. Atalanta's Race
From Ihc painting by Poynter
she hesitated, the spectators grew impatient for the contest and
her father prompted her to prepare. Then Hippomenes addressed
a prayer to Cypris : " Help me, Venus, for thou hast impelled
me." Venus heard and was propitious.
She gathered three golden apples from the garden of her tem-
ple in her own island of Cyprus and, unseen by any, gave them to
Hippomenes, telling him how to use them. Atalanta and her lover
were ready. The signal was given.
They both started ; he, by one stride, first,
For she ha]f pitied him so beautiful.
Running to meet his death, yet was resolved
To conquer ; soon she near'd him, and he felt
The rapid and repeated gush of breath
Behind his sKoulder.
From his hand now dropt
A golden apple : she lookt down and law
A glitter on the grass, yet on she ran.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 141
He dropt a second ; now she seem'd to stoop :
He dropt a third ; and now she stoopt indeed :
Yet, swifter than a wren picks up a grain
Of millet, rais'd her head : it was too late.
Only 6ne step, only one breath, too late.
Hippomenes had toucht the maple goal
With but two fingers, leaning pronely forth.
She stood in mute despair ; the prize was won.
Now each walkt slowly forward, both so tired,
And both alike breathed hard, and stopt at times.
When he tum'd round to her, she lowered her face
Cover'd with blushes, and held out her hand,
The golden apple in it
" Leave me now,"
Said she, " I must walk homeward."
He did take
The apple and the hand.
" Both I detain,"
Said he, " the other two I dedicate
To the two Powers that soften virgin hearts,
Eros and Aphrodite ; and this one
To her who ratifies the nuptial vow."
She would have wept to see her father weep ;
But some God pitied her, and purple wings
(What God's were they?) hovered and interposed.^
But the oracle was yet to be fulfilled. The lovers, full of their
own happiness, after all, forgot to pay due honor to Aphrodite,
and the goddess was provoked at their ingratitude. She caused
them to give offense to Cybele. That powerful goddess took from
them their human form : the huntress heroine, triumphing in the
blood of her lovers, she made a lioness ; her lord and master a lion,
— and yoked them to her car, where they are still to be seen in all
representations in statuary or painting of the goddess Cybele.
104. Hero and Leander were star-crossed lovers of later classical
fiction.^ Although their story is not of supernatural beings, or of
events necessarily influenced by supernatural agencies, and there-
fore not mythical in the strict sense of the word, it deserves to be
1 From W. S. Landor'a Hippomenes and Atalanta.
3 The poetical passages are from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, First Sestiad. Marlowe's
narrative was completed by Chapman. See Mussus of Alexandria, De Amore Herois et
I^eandri ; Virg. Georg. 3, 258 ; Ovid, Her. 18, 19 ; StAt, Theb. 6, 77Q,
f
142 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
included here both because of its pathetic beauty and its long literary
tradition. The poet Marlowe puts the story into English thus :
On Hellespont, guilty of true love's blood,
In view and opposite two cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoined by Neptune's might
The one Abydos, the other Sestos hight
At Sestos Hero dwelt ; Hero the fair.
Whom young Apollo courted for her hair,
And offer'd as a dower his burning throne.
Where she should sit, for men to gaze upon. . , .
Some say, for her the fairest Cupid pin'd.
And, looking in her face, was strooken blind.
But this is true : so like was one the other.
As he imagined Hero was his mother ;
And oftentimes into her bosom flew.
About her naked neck his bare arms threw.
And laid his childish head upon her breast,
And, with still panting rockt, there took his rest.
In Abydos dwelt the manly Leander, who, as luck would have
it, bethought himself one day of the festival of Venus in Sestos,
and thither fared to do obeisance to the goddess.
On this feast-day, — O cursed day and hour ! —
Went Hero thorough Sestos, from her tower
To Venus' temple, where unhappily.
As after chanc'd, they did each other spy.
So fair a church as this had Venus none ;
The walls were of discolored jasper-stone, . . .
And in the midst a silver altar stood :
There Hero, sacrificing turtle's blood,
Vail'd to the ground, veiling her eyelids close ;
And modestly they opened as she rose :
Thence flew Love's arrow with the golden head ;
And thus Leander was enamoured.
Stone-still he stood, and evermore he gaz'd.
Till with the fire, that from his countenance blaz'd,
Relenting Hero's gentle heart was strook :
Such power and virtue hath an amorous look.
It lies not in our power to love or hate.
For will in us is overrul'd by fate.
When two are stript long e'er the course begin,
iVe wish that one should lose, the other win ;
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 143
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect :
The reason no man knows ; let it suffice,
What we behold is censur'd by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight :
Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight ?
He kneel'd ; but unto her devoutly prayed :
Chaste Hero to herself thus softly said,
" Were I the saint he worships, I would hear him " ;
And, as she spake those words, came somewhat near him.
He started up ; she blushM as one ashamM ;
Wherewith Leander much more was inflam'd.
He touch'd her hand ; in touching it she trembled :
Love deeply groimded, hardly is dissembled. . . .
So they conversed by touch of hands, till Leander, plucking up
courage, began to plead with words, with sighs and tears.
These arguments he us'd, and many more ; >\^/i.
Wherewith she yielded, that was won before.
Hero's looks yielded, but her words made war :
Women are won when they begin to jar.
Thus having swallow'd Cupid's golden hook.
The more she strivM, the deeper was she strook :
Yet, evilly feigning anger, strove she still.
And would be thought to grant against her will.
So having paus'd awhile, at last she said,
" Who taught thee rhetoric to deceive a maid?
Ay me ! such words as these should I abhor.
And yet I like them for the orator."
With that Leander stoop'd to have embraced her.
But from his spreading arms away she cast her.
And thus bespake him : " Gentle youth, forbear
To touch the sacred garments which I wear." . . .
Then she told him of the turret by the murmuring sea where
all day long she tended Venus' swans and sparrows :
" Come thither." As she spake this, her tongue tripp'd,
For unawares, " Come thither," from her slipp'd ;
And suddenly her former color chang'd.
And here and there her eyes through anger rang'd ;
And, like a planet moving several ways
At one seM instant, she, poor so\i\, assays,
44 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Loving, not to love at all, and every part
Strove to resist the motions of her heart :
And hands so pure, so innocent, nay, such
As might have made Heaven stoop to have a touch,
Did she uphold to Venus, and again
Vow'd spotless chastity ; but all in vain ;
Cupid beats down her prayers with his wings. . . .
For a season all went well. Guided by a torch which his mis-
ress reared upon the tower, he was wont of nights to swim the
t strait that he might enjoy her company. But one night a tempest
i. Ti. Hero t
From the painting by Keller
r arose and the sea was rough ; his strength failed and he was
I drowned. The waves bore his body to the European shore, where
I Hero became aware of his death, and in her despair cast herself
t into the sea and perished.
J
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 145
A picture of the drowning Leander is thus described by Keats : ^
Come hither all sweet maidens soberly,
Down looking aye, and with a chasten'd light,
Hid in the fringe of your eyelids white.
And meekly let your fair hands joinM be.
As if so gentle that ye could not see,
Untouched, a victim of your beauty bright.
Sinking away to his young spirit's night,
Sinking bewilder'd 'mid the dreary sea :
'T is young Leander toiling to his death ;
Nigh swooning he doth purse his weary lips
For Hero's cheek, and smiles against her smile.
O horrid dream ! see how his body dips
Dead-heavy ; arms and shoulders gleam awhile ;
He 's gone ; up bubbles all his amorous breath !
105. Pygmalion and the Statue.^ Pygmalion saw so much to
blame in women, that he came at last to abhor the sex and resolved
to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonder-
ful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman was to
compare with it. It was indeed the perfect semblance of a maiden
that seemed to be alive and that was prevented from moving only
by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself, and its
product looked like the workmanship of nature. Pygmalion at last
fell in love with his counterfeit creation. Oftentimes he laid his
hand upon it as if to assure himself whether it were living or not,
and could not even then believe that it was only ivory.
The festival of Venus was at hand, — a festival celebrated with
great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked,
and the odor of incense filled the air. When Pygmalion had per-
formed his part in the solemnities, he stood before the altar and,
according to one of our poets, timidly said :
O Aphrodite, kind and fair.
That what thou wilt canst give,
Oh, listen to a sculptor's prayer.
And bid mine image live !
For me the ivory and gold
That clothe her cedar frame
1 Sonnet, On a Picture of Leander. * Ov\d, "W-eXaxcv. \o, a4tV*<??l*
146 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Are beautiful, indeed, but cold ;
Ah, touch them with thy flame I
Oh, bid her move those lips of rose,
Bid float that golden hair.
And let her choose me, as I chose.
This fairest of the fair !
And then an altar in thy court
I '11 offer, decked with gold ;
And there thy servants shall resort,
Thy doves be bought and sold ! ^
According to another version of the story, he said not, **bid
mine image live," but '' one like my ivory virgin." At any rate,
with such a prayer he threw incense on the flanie of the altar.
Whereupon Venus, as an omen of her favor, caused the flame to
shoot up thrice a fiery point into the air.
When Pygmalion reached his home, to his amazement he saw
before him his statue garlanded with flowers.
Yet while he stood, and knew not what to do
With yearning, a strange thrill of hope there came,
A shaft of new desire now pierced him through,
^ And therewithal a soft voice called his name.
And when he turned, with eager eyes aflame.
He saw betwixt him and the setting sun
The lively image of his lov^d one.
He trembled at the sight, for though her eyes,
Her very lips, were such as he had made.
And though her tresses fell but in such guise
As he had wrought them, now was she arrayed
In that fair garment that the priests had laid
Upon the goddess on that very mom.
Dyed like the setting sun upon the com.
Speechless he stood, but she now drew anear.
Simple and sweet as she was wont to be.
And once again her silver voice rang clear,
Filling his soul with great felicity.
And thus she spoke, " Wilt thou not come to me,
O dear companion of my new-found life.
For I am called thy lover and thy wife ? . . .
1 Andrew Lang, The New Pygmalion.
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAYEN 147
" My sweet," she said, " as yet I am not wise.
Or stored with words aright the tale to tell.
But listen : when I opened first mine eyes
I stood within the niche thou knowest well.
And from my hand a heavy thing there fell
Carved like these flowers, nor could I see things clear,
But with a strange, confused noise could hear.
" At last mine eyes could see a woman fair.
But awful as this round white moon overhead.
So that I trembled when I saw her there.
For with my life was bom some touch of dread,
And therewithal I heard her voice that said,
* Come down and learn to love and be alive,
For thee, a well-prized gift, to-day I give.' " ^
A fuller account of Venus* address to the statue is the following :
O maiden, in mine image made !
O grace that shouldst endure !
While temples fall, and empires fade,
Immaculately pure :
Exchange this endless life of art
For beauty that must die.
And blossom with a beating heart
Into mortality !
Change, golden tresses of her hair.
To gold that turns to gray ;
Change, silent lips, forever fair,
To lips that have their day !
Oh, perfect arms, grow soft with life.
Wax warm, ere cold ye wane ;
Wake, woman's heart, from peace to strife,
To love, to joy, to pain ! *
The maiden was called Galatea. Venus blessed the nuptials, and
from the union Paphos was bom, by whose name the city, sacred
to Venus, is known.
106. Pyramus and Thisbe.^ Pyramus was the handsomest youth
and Thisbe the fairest maiden in Babylonia, where Semiramis
1 From William Morris, Pygmalion and the Image, in The Earthly Paradise.
8 Andrew Lang, The New Pygmalion, or The Statue's Choice. A witty and not unpoetic
bit of burlesque. ' Ovid, Metam. 4, 55-166.
148
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
I
reigned. Their parents occupied adjoining houses. Propinquity
brought the young people together, and acquaintance ripened into
love. They would gladly have married, but their parents forbade.
One thing, however, parents could not forbid (for Venus and Cupid
favored the match), — that love should glow with equal ardor in the
bosoms of both. They conversed by signs and glances, and the fire
burned the more intensely
that it was covered. In the
wall between the two houses
there was a crack, caused by
some fault in the structure.
It afforded a passage to
the voice ; and tender mes-
sages passed back and forth
through the gap. When night
came and they must say
farewell, the lovers pressed
their lips upon the wall, she
on her side, he on his.
One morning, when Au-
rora had put out the stars
and the sun had melted the
frost from the grass, they
met at the accustomed spot
and arranged a meeting for
that night at a well-known
edifice, standing without the
city's bounds, — the Tomb
of Ninua. The one who
first arrived should await the other at the foot of a white mulberry
tree near a cool spring. Evening came, Thisbe, arriving first, sat
alone by the monument in the dim light of the evening. Suddenly
she descried a lioness, her jaws reeking with recent slaughter,
approaching the fountain to slake her thirst. The maiden fled at
the sight, dropping her veil as she ran. The lioness, after drink-
ing at the spring, turned toward the woods, and, seeing the veil on
le ground, tossed and rent it with her bloody mouth.
*
2j2
Fig. 80. Thisbe
From the puntiDg by EdwRid Burne-Jon
^_ ing at m
^^^Jie groui
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 149
Now P)n:amus approached the place of meeting. He saw in
the sand the footsteps of the lion. He found the veil all rent and
bloody. ** O, hapless girl," cried he, "I have been the cause of
thy death ; but I follow thee ! " So saying, he drew his sword and
plunged it into his heart. The blood spurted from the wound and
tinged the white mulberries of the tree all red, and, sinking into
the earth, reached the roots, so that the sanguine hue mounted
through the trunk to the fruit.
By this time Thisbe, still trembling with fear, yet wishing not
to disappoint her lover, stepped cautiously forth, looking anxiously
for the youth, eager to tell him the danger she had escaped.
When she came to the spot and saw the changed color of the
mulberries, she doubted whether it was the same place. While
she hesitated, she saw the form of her lover struggling in the
agonies of death. She screamed and beat her breast, she em-
braced the lifeless body, poured tears into its wounds, and imprinted
kisses on the cold lips. ** O, Pyramus," she cried, " what has done
this ? It is thine own Thisbe that speaks." At the name of Thisbe
Pyramus opened his eyes, then closed them again. She saw her
veil stained with blood and the scabbard empty of its sword.
'' Thine own hand has slain thee, and for my sake," she said. '' I,
too, can be brave for once, and my love is as strong as thine.
But ye, unhappy parents of us both, deny us not our united re-
quest. As love and death have joined us, let one tomb contain us.
And thou, tree, retain the marks of slaughter. Let thy berries
still serve for memorials of our blood." So saying, she plunged
the sword into her breast. The two bodies were buried in one
sepulcher, and the tree henceforth produced purple berries.
107. Phaon ferried a boat between Lesbos and Chios. One day
the queen of Paphos and Amathus,^ in the guise of an ugly crone,
begged a passage, which was so good-naturedly granted that in rec-
ompense she bestowed on the ferryman a salve possessing magical
properties of youth and beauty. As a consequence of the use made
of it by Phaon, the women of Lesbos went wild for love of him.
None, however, admired him more than the poetess Sappho, who
addressed to him some of her warmest and rarest love-songs.
1 § 100, and CommentKy,
150 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
108. The Vengeance of Venus. Venus did not fail to follow
with her vengeance those who dishonored her rites or defied her
power. The youth Hippolytus who, eschewing love, preferred
Diana to her, she brought miserably to his ruin. Polyphonte she
transformed into an owl, Arsinoe into a stone, and Myrrha into a
myrde tree.^ Her influence in the main was of mingled bane and
blessing, as in the cases of Helen, CEnone, Pasiphae, Ariadne,
Procris, Eriphyle, Laodamia, and others whose stories are else-
where told.2
109. Myths of Mercury. According to Horner,^ Maia bore
Mercury at the peep of day, — a schemer subtle beyond all belief.
He began pla)dng on the lyre at noon ; for, wandering out of the
lofty cavern of Cyllene, he found a tortoise, picked it up, bored
the life out of the beast, fitted the shell with bridge and reeds,
and accompanied himself therewith as he sang a strain of unpre-
meditated sweetness. At evening of the same day he stole the
oxen of his half brother Apollo from the Pierian mountains, where
they were grazing. He covered their hoofs with tamarisk twigs,
and, still further to deceive the pursuer, drove them backward into
a cave at Pylos. There rubbing laurel branches together, he made
fire and sacrificed, as an example for men to follow, two heifers
to the twelve gods (himself included). Then home he went and
slept, innocent as a new-bom child ! To his mother's warning that
Apollo would catch and punish him, this innocent replied, in effect,
** I know a trick better than that ! " And when the puzzled Apollo,
having traced the knavery to this babe in swaddling clothes, ac-
cused him of it, the sweet boy swore a great oath by his father's
head that he stole not the cows, nor knew even what cows might
be, for he had only that moment heard the name of them. Apollo
proceeded to trounce the baby, with scant success, however, for
Mercury persisted in his assumption of ignorance. So the twain
appeared before their sire, and Apollo entered his complaint : he
had not seen nor ever dreamed of so precocious a cattle-stealer,
liar, and full-fledged knave as this young rascal. To all of which
Mercury responded that he was, on the contrary, a veracious
1 Murray, Manual of Mythology, p. 87 ; Ovid, Metam. 10, 298-502.
s See Index for sections. * Hymn to Mercuxy (Hermes).
■ MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 151
person, but that his brother Apollo was a coward to bully a helpless
little new-bom thing that slept, nor ever had thought of " lifting "
cattle. The wink with which the lad of Cyllene accompanied this
asseveration threw Jupiter into uncontrollable roars of laughter.
K[uently, the quarrel was patched up : Mercury gave Apollo
s new-made lyre ; Apollo presented the prodigy with a glittering
whiplash and installed him herdsman of his oxen. Nay even, when
Mercury had sworn by sacred Styx no more to try his cunning in
theft upon Apollo, that god in gratitude invested him with the
magic wand of wealth, happiness, and dreams {the caducens), it
being understood, however, that Mercury should indicate the future
only by signs, not by speech or song as did Apollo. It is said that
the god of gain avenged himself for this enforced rectitude upon
others : upon Venus, whose girdle he purloined ; upon Neptune,
whose trident he filched ; upon Vulcan, whose tongs he borrowed ;
and upon Mars, whose sword he stole.
The most famous exploit of the Messenger, the slaughter of
Argus, has already been narrated.
CHAPTER VIII
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF EARTH
110. Myths of Bacchus. Since the adventures of Ceres, although
she was a goddess of earth, are intimately connected with the life
of the underworld, they will be related in the sections pertaining to
Proserpine and Pluto. The god of vernal sap
and vegetation, of the gladness that comes of
youth or of wine, the golden-curled, sleepy-
eyed Bacchus (Dionysus), — his wanderings,
and the fortunes of mortals brought under
his influence (Pentheus, Acetes, Ariadne,
and Midas), here challenge^our attention.
111. The Wanderings of Bacchus. After
the death of Semele,' Jove took the infant
Bacchus and gave him in charge to the
NysEean nymphs, who nourished his infaiicy
and childhood and for their care were placed
by Jupiter, as the Hyades, among the stars.
Another guardian and tutor of young Bac-
chus was the pot-bellied, jovial Silenus, son of
Pan and a nymph, and oldest of the Satyrs.
Silenus was probably an indulgent precep-
tor. He was generally tipsy and would have
broken his neck early in his career, had not
the Satyrs held him on his ass's back as he reeled along in the
train of his pupil. Aftef Bacchus was of age, he discovered the
culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice;
but Juno struck him with madness and drove him forth a wan-
derer through various parts of the earth. In Phrygia the goddess
Rhea cured him and taught him her religious rites ; and then
Fio. 8i. Silenus
INC Dionysus t
ScKoot
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF EARTH 153
he set out on a progress through Asia, teaching the people the
cultivation of the vine. The most famous part of his wanderings
is his expedition to
India, which is said
to have lasted several
years. Returning in
triumph, he undertook
to introduce his wor-
ship into Greece, but
was opposed by certain
princes who dreaded
the disorders and mad-
ness it brought with it.
Finally, he approached
his native city Thebes,
where his own cousin,
Pentheus, son of Agave
and grandson of Har-
monia and Cadmus, was
king. Pentheus, how-
ever, had no respect
for the new worship and forbade its rites to be performed.* But
when it was known that Bacchus was advancing, men and women,
young and old, poured forth to meet him and to join bis triumphal
march.
Fauns with youthful Bacchus follow ;
Ivy crowtis that brow, supernal
As the forehead of Apotio,
And fHDSsessing youth eternal.
Round about him fair Bacchantes,
Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses,
Wild from Nasiaa groves or Zante's
Vineyards, wng delirious verses.'
It was in vain Pentheus remonstrated, commanded, and threatened.
His nearest friends and wisest counselors begged him not to oppose
the god. Their remonstrances only made bim the more violent.
i Ovid, Metam. j, 511-733. ' LrogfoUow, Drinking Song.
Fig. 83. Bearded Dionysus a
154
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
r
^H 112. The Story of Acetes. Soon the attendants returned who
^B had been dispatched to seize Bacchus. They had succeeded in
^H taking one of the Bacchanals prisoner, whom, with his hands tied
^B behind him, they brought before the king. Pentheus, threatening
^M him with death, commanded him to tell who he was and what these
^H new rites were that he presumed to celebrate,
^M The prisoner, unterrificd, replied that he was Acetes of Meeonia;
^P that his parents, being poor, had left him their fisherman's trade,
which he had followed till he had acquired the pilot's art of steer-
ing his course by the
stars. It once hap-
pened that he had
touched at the island
of Dia and had sent
his men ashore for
fresh water. They re-
turned, bringing with
them a lad of deli-
cate appearance whom
they had found asleep.
Judging him to be
a noble youth, they
thought to detain him
in the hope of liberal
ransom. But Acetes
i that some god was concealed under the youth's exterior,
and asked pardon for the violence done. Whereupon the sailors,
enraged by their lust of gain, exclaimed, " Spare thy prayers for
us I" and, in spite of the resistance offered by Acetes, thrust the
captive youth on board and set sail.
Then Bacchus (for the youth was indeed he), as if shaking off
his drowsiness, asked what the trouble was and whither they were
carrying him. One of the mariners replied, " Fear nothing ; tell us
where thou wouldst go, and we will convey thee thither." " Naxos
is my home," said Bacchus ; " take me there, and ye shall be well
rewarded." They promised so to do ; but, preventing the pilot from
steering toward Naxos, they bore away for Egypt, where they might
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF EARTH 155
sell the lad into slavery. Soon the god looked out over the sea
and said in a voice of weeping, " Sailors, these are not the shores
ye promised me ; yonder island is not my home. It is small glory
ye shall gain by cheating a poor boy." Acetes wept to hear him,
but the crew laughed at both of them and sped the vessel fast over
the sea. All at once it stopped in mid-sea, as fast as if it were
fixed on the ground. The men, astonished, pulled at their oars
and spread more sail, but all in vain. Ivy twined round the oars
and clung to the saOs,
with heavy clusters of
berries. A vine laden
with grapes ran up
the mast and along
the sides of the vessel.
The sound of flutes was
heard, and the odor of
fragrant wine spread
all around. The god
himself had a chap-
let of vine leaves and
bore in his hand a
spear wreathed with
ivy. Tigers crouched
at his feet, and forms
of lynxes and spotted
panthers played around
him. The whole crew became dolphins and swam about the ship.
Of twenty men Acetes alone was left. " Fear not," said the god ;
" steer towards Naxos." The pilot obeyed, and when they arrived
there, kindled the altars and celebrated the sacred rites of Bacchus.
So far had Acetes advanced in his narrative, when Pentheus,
interrupting, ordered him off to his death. But from this fate the
pilot, rendered invisible by his patron deity, was straightway rescued.
Meanwhile, the mountain Cithseron seemed alive with worshipers,
and the cries of the Bacchanals resounded on every side. Pentheus,
angered by the noise, penetrated through the wood and reached an
open space where the chief scene of the orgies msA. Vis e:^es., E>x
FiG. S5. Dionysus at Sba
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the same moment the women saw him, among them his mother
Agave, and Autonoe and Ino, her sisters. Taking him for a wild
bear, they rushed upon him and tore him to pieces, — his mother
shouting, " Victory ! Victory ! the gloiy is ours ! "
So the worship of Bacchus was established in Greece.
It was on the island of Naxos that Bacchus afterward found
Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who had been de-
serted by her lover, Theseus, How Bacchus comforted her is related
in another section. How the god himself is worshiped is told by
Edmund Gosse in the poem from which the following extracts are
taken :
Behold, behold ! the granite gates unclose,
And down the vales a lyric people flows ;
Dandng to music, in their dance they fling
Their frantic robes to every wind that blows,
And deathless praises to the vine-god sing.
Fig. 8G. Bacchic Fkocession
Nearer they press, and nearer still in sight,
Still dancing blithely in a seemly choir;
TosMng on high the symbol of their rite,
The cone-tipped thyrsus of a god's desire ;
Nearer they come, tall damsels flushed and fair.
With ivy circling their abundant hair;
Onward, with even pace, in stately rows.
With eye that flashes, and with cheek that glows.
And all the while their tribute-aonga they bring,
And newer glories of the past disclose,
And deathless praises to the vine-god sing.
. . . But oh I within the heart of diis great flight,
MYTHS OF THE GREAT DIVINITIES OF EARTH 157
Whose ivory arms hold up the golden lyre ?
What form is this of more than mortal height ?
What matchless beauty,-what inspired ire !
The brindled panthers know the prize they bear,
And harmonize their steps with stately care ;
Bent to the morning, like a living rose,
The immortal splendor of his face he shows,
And where he glances, leaf and flower and wing
Tremble with rapture, stirred in their repose,
And deathless praises to the vine-god sing. . . .'
113. The Choice of King Midas.^ Once Silenus, having wan-
dered from the company of Bacchus in an intoxicated condition,
was found by some peasants, who earned him to their king, Midas.
Fig. 87. Dionysus visiting a Poet
Midas entertained him royally and on the eleventh day restored
him in safety to his divine pupil. Whereupon Bacchus offered
Midas his choice of a reward. The king asked that whatever he
might touch should be changed into gold, Bacchus consented,
Midas hastened to put his new-acquired power to the test. A
twig of an oak, which he plucked from the branch, became gold in
1 From The Praise of Dionyaus. * 0«4,'W.Wawv. \\,%s-^SV
158 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
his hand. He took up a stone ; it changed to gold. He touched
a sod with the same result. He took an apple from the tree ; you
would have thought he had robbed the garden of the Hesperides.
He ordered his servants, then, to set an excellent meal on the
table. But, to his dismay, when he touched bread, it hardened in
his hand ; when he put a morsel to his lips, it defied his teeth. He
took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat like melted gold.
He strove to divest himself of his power ; he hated the gift he
had lately coveted. He raised his arms, all shining with gold, in
prayer to Bacchus, begging to be delivered from this glittering
destruction. The merciful deity heard and sent him to wash away
his fault and its punishment in the fountainhead of the river
Pactolus. Scarce had Midas touched the waters, before the gold-
creating power passed into them, and the river sands became
golden, as they remain to this day.
Thenceforth Midas, hating wealth and splendor, dwelt in the
country and became a worshiper of Pan, the god of the fields.
But that he had not gained common sense is shown by the deci-
sion that he delivered somewhat later in favor of Pan's superiority,
as a musician, over Apollo.^
1 Sec § 85.
CHAPTER IX
FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD
114. Myths of Ceres, Pluto, and Proserpine. The search of
Ceres for Proserpine, and of Orpheus for Eurydice, are stories
pertaining both to Earth and Hades.
115. The Rape of Proserpine.* When the giants were impris-
oned by Jupiter under Mount ^tna, Pluto (Hades) feared lest the
shock of their fall might expose his kingdom to the light of day.
Under this apprehension, he mounted his chariot drawn by black
horses, and made a circuit of inspection to satisfy himself of the
extent of the damage. While he was thus engaged, Venus, who
was sitting on Mount Eryx playing with her boy Cupid, espied
him and said, " My son, take thy darts which subdue all, even Jove
himself, and send one into the breast of yonder dark monarch,
who rules the realm of Tartarus, Dost thou not see that even in
heaven some despise our power ? Minerva and Diana defy us ; and
there is that daughter of Ceres, goddess of earth, who threatens to
follow their example. Now, if thou regardest. thine own interest
or mine, join these two in one," The boy selected his sharpest
and truest arrow, and sped it right to the heart of Pluto.
1 Ovid, Metam. 5, n»-W-
'59
l6o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
In the vale of Enha is a lake embowered in woods, where Spring
reigns perpetual. Here Proserpine (Persephone) was playing with
her companions, gathering lilies and violets, and singing, one may
imagine, such words as our poet Shelley puts into her mouth :
Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth,
Thou from whose immortal bosom,
Gods, and men, and beasts, have birth.
Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom,
Breathe thine influence most divine
On thine own child, Proserpine.
If with mists of evening dew
Thou dost nourish these young flowers
Till they grow, in scent and hue,
Fairest children of the hours.
Breathe thine influence most divine
On thine own child, Proserpine.^
Pluto saw her, loved her, and carried her off. She screamed for
help to her mother and her companions ; but the ravisher urged
on his steeds and outdistanced pursuit. When he reached the
river Cyane, it opposed his passage, whereupon he struck the bank
with his trident, and the earth opened and gave him a passage to
Tartarus.
116. The Wanderings of Ceres.^ Ceres (Demeter) sought her
daughter all the world over. Bright-haired Aurora, when she came
forth in the morning, and Hesperus, when he led out the stars in
the evening, found her still busy in the search. At length, weary
and sad, she sat down upon a stone, and remained nine days and
nights in the open air, under the sunlight and moonlight and fall-
ing showers. It was where now stands the city of Eleusis, near the
home of an old man named Celeus. His little girl, pitying the old
woman, said to her, " Mother," — and the name was sweet to the
ears of Ceres, — ** why sittest thou here alone upon the rocks ? "
The old man begged her to come into his cottage. She declined.
He urged her. ** Go in peace," she replied, ** and be happy in thy
1 Song of Proserpine, while gathering flowers on the plain of Enna.
3 Ovid, Metam. 5. 440, 642 ; ApoUodorut, i, 5, § 2 ; Hyginus, Fab. 147.
FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD i6r
E lighter; I have lost mine." But their compassion finally pre-
iled. Ceres rose from the stone and went with them. As they
walked, Ceteus said that his only son lay sick of a fever. The
goddess stooped and gathered some poppies. Then, entering
the cottage, where all was in distress, — for the boy Triptole-
mus seemed past recovery, — she restored the child to life and
health with a kiss. In
grateful happiness the
>femi!y spread the table
and put upon it curds
and cream, apples, and
honey in the comb.
While they ate, Ceres
mingled poppy juice
in the milk of the boy.
When night came, she
arose and, taking the
sleeping boy, molded
his limbs with her
hands, and uttered
over him three times
a solemn charm, then
went and laid him in
■ the ashes. His mother,
■who had been watch-
ing what her guest
was doing, sprang for-
ward with a cry and
snatched the child from the fire. Then Ceres assumed her own form,
and a divine splendor shone all around. While they were overcome
with astonishment, she said, " Mother, thou hast been cruel in thy
fondness ; for I would have made thy son immortal. Nevertheless,
he shall be great and useful. He shall teach men the use of the plow
and the rewards which labor can win from the soil." So saying, she
wrapped a cloud about her and mounting her chariot rode away.
Ceres continued her search for her daughter till at length she
■ned to Sicily, whence she first had set out, and stood by the
l62
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
^H banks of the river Cyane. The river nymph would have told the
^H goddess all she had witnessed, but dared not, for fear of Pluto ;
^H so she ventured merely to take up the girdle which Proserpine had
^H dropped in her flight, and float it to the feet of the mother, Ceres,
^H seeing this, laid her curse on the innocent earth in which her
^H daughter had disappeared. Then succeeded drought and famine,
^H flood and plague, until, at last, the fountain Arethusa made inter-
cession for the land. For she had seen that it opened only unwill-
ingly to the might of Pluto ; and she had also, in her flight from
Alpheus through the lower regions of the earth, beheld the miss-
ing Proserpine. She said that the daughter of Ceres seemed sad,
but no longer showed alann in her countenance. Her look was
such as became a queen, — the queen of Erebus ; the powerful
bride of the monarch of tiie realms of the dead.
When Ceres heard this, she stood awhile like one stupefied ;
then she implored Jupiter to interfere to procure the restitution
FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD 163
of her daughter. Jupiter consented on condition that Proserpine
should not during her stay in the lower world have taken any food ;
otherwise, the Fates forbade her release. Accordingly, Mercury
was sent, accompanied by Spring, to demand Proserpine of Pluto.
The wily monarch consented ; but alas ! the maiden had taken a
pomegranate which Pluto offered her, and had sucked the sweet
pulp from a few of the seeds. A compromise, however, was effected
by which she was to pass half the time with her mother, and the
rest with the lord of Hades.
Of modem poems upon the story of the maiden seized in the
vale of Enna, none conveys a lesson more serene of the beauty of
that dark lover of all fair life. Death, than the Proserpine of Wood-
berry, from which we quote the three following stanzas. " I pick,"
says the poet wandering through the vale of Enna,
I pick the flowers that Proserpine let fall,
Sung through the world by every honeyed muse :
Wild morning-glories, daisies waving tall,
At every step is something new to choose ;
And oft I stop and gaze
Upon the flowery maze ;
By yonder cypresses on that soft rise,
Scarce seen through poppies and the knee-deep wheat,
Juts the dark cleft where on her came the fleet
Thunder-black horses and the cloud's surprise
And he who filled the place.
Did marigolds bright as these, gilding the mist,
Drop from her maiden zone ? Wert thou last kissed,
Pale hyacinth, last seen, before his face ?
Oh, whence has silence stolen on all things here,
Where every sight makes music to the eye ?
Through all one unison is singing clear ;
All sounds, all colors in one rapture die.
Breathe slow, 0 heart, breathe slow !
A presence from below
Moves toward the breathing world from that dark deep.
Whereof men fabling tell what no man knows.
By little fires amid the winter snows.
When earth lies stark in her titanic s\ee^
l64 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
And doth with cold expire ;
He brings thee all, O Maiden flower of earth,
Her child in whom all nature conies to birth,
Thee, the fruition of all dark desire.
0 Proserpine, dream not that thou art gone
Far from our lovea, half-human, half-divine;
Thou hast a holier adoration won
In many a heart that worships at no shrine.
Where light and warmth behold me.
And flower and wheat infold me,
1 lift a dearer prayer than all prayers past ;
He who so loved thee that the live earth clove
Before his pathway unto light and love,
And took thy flower-full bosom, — who at last
Shall every blossom cull, —
Lover the most of what is raost our own,
The mighdest lover that the world has known.
Dark lover, Death, — was he not beautiful ? '
117. Triptolemus and the Eleusinian Mysteries. Ceres, pacii
with this arrangement, restored the earth t(i her favor. Now she
remembered, also, Celeus and his family, and her piomise to his i
infant son Triptolemus. She taught the boy the use of the plow
and how to sow the seed. She took him in her chariot, drawn by
1 From Proiecplne, iloniaa wiictcn by l^ke Petgiua; by Geaige E. WoDdbeny {Caitury {
FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD 165
winged dragons, through all the countries of the earth ; and under
her guidance he imparted to mankind valuable grains and the
knowledge of agriculture. After his return Triptolemus built a
temple to Ceres in Eleusis and established the worship of the
goddess under the name of the Eleusinian mysteries, which in the
splendor and solem-
nity of their observ-
ance surpassed all
other religious cele-
brations among the
Greeks.
118. Orpheus and
Earydice.i Of mor-
tals who have visited
Hades and retumed,
none has a sweeter or
sadder history than Or-
pheus, son of Apollo
and the Muse Calliope.
Presented by his father
with a lyre and taught
to play upon it, he be-
came the most famous
of musicians, and not
only his fellow mor-
tals but even the wild
beasts were softened
by his strains. The
very trees and rocks
were sensible to the
charm. And so also was Eurydice, — whom he loved and won.
Hymen was called to bless with his presence the nuptials of
Orpheus with Eurydice, but he conveyed no happy omens with
him. His torch smoked and brought tears into the eyes. In keep-
ing with such sad prognostics, Eurydice, shortly after her marriage,
was seen by the shepherd Aristasus, who was struck with her beauty
^ Ovid, llctan. la, 1-77,
Fig. 92. Deueter, Triptolemus, and Proserpina
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^
and made advances to her. As she fled she trod upon a snake in
the grass, and was bitten in the foot. She died. Orpheus sang his
grief to all who breathed the upper air, both gods and men, and
finding his complaint of no avail, resolved to seek his wife in the
regions of the dead. He descended by a cave situated on the side
of the promontory of Ttenarus, and arrived in the Stygian realm.
He passed through crowds
if ghosts and presented
himself before the throne
t Pluto and Proserpine.
\tLompanying his words
I itb the lyre, he sang his
iJt.Eition for his wife. With-
out her he would not re-
turn In such tender strains
he sang that the very ghosts
shed tears. Tantalus, in
spite of his thirst, stopped
for a moment his efforts for
water, Ixion's wheel stood
still, the vulture ceased to
tear the giant's liver, the
daughters of Danaiis rested
from their task of drawing
water in a sieve, and Sisy-
phus sat on his rock to
listen.' Then for the first
time, it is said, the cheeks
Proserpine could not resist and
by Lord Leighton
of the Furies were wet with tears.
Pluto himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She came from among
the new-arrived ghosts, limping with her wounded foot. Orpheus
was permitted to take her away with him on condition that he should
not turn round to look at her till they should have reached the upper
air. Under this condition they proceeded on their way, he leading,
she following. Mindful of his promise, without let or hindrance the
bard passed through the horrors of hell. All Hades held its breath.
FROM THE EARTH TO THE UNDERWORLD
. . . On he stept,
And Cerberus held ^ape his triple jaws ;
On stept the bard. Ixion's wheel stood stiU.
Now, past all peril, free was his return,
And now was hastening into upper air
Euiydice, when sudden madness seized
The incatitious lover ; pardonable fault,
167
™#.^
i
Fig, 94. Farewell of Orpheus and Eurydice
If they below could pardon: on the verge
Of light he stood, and on Eurydice
(Mindless of fate, alasj and soul-subdued)
Lookt back.
There, Orpheus ! Orpheus ! there was all
Thy labor shed, there burst the Dynast's bond,
And thrice arose that rumor from the lake.
"Ah, what ! " she cried, " what madness hath undone
Me! and, ah, wretched! thee, my Orpheus, too!
For lo ! the cruel Fates recall me now ;
Chill slumbers press my swimming eyes. . . . Farewdl'.
1 68 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Night rolls intense around me as I spread
My helpless arms . . . thine, thine no more ... to thee."
She spake, and, like a vapor, into air
Flew, nor beheld him as he claspt the void
And sought to speak ; in vain ; the ferry-guard
Now would not row him o'er the lake again.
His wife twice lost, what could. he? whither go?
What chant, what wailing, move the Powers of Hell?
Cold in the Stygian bark and lone was she.
Beneath a rock o'er Strymon's flood on high.
Seven months, seven long-continued months, 't is said,
He breath'd his sorrows in a desert cave.
And sooth'd the tiger, moved the oak, with song.^
The Thracian maidens tried their best to captivate him, but he
repulsed their advances. Finally, excited by the rites of Bacchus,
one of them exclaimed, ** See yonder our despiser ! " and threw
at him her javelin. The weapon, as soon as it came within the
sound of his lyre, fell harmless at his feet ; so also the stones that
they threw at him. But the women, raising a scream, drowned
the voice of the music, and overwhelmed him with their missiles.
Like maniacs they tore him limb from limb ; then cast his head
and lyre into the river Hebrus, down which they floated, murmuring
sad music to which the shores responded. The Muses buried
the fragments of his body at Libethra, where the nightingale is
said to sing over his grave more sweetly than in any other part of
Greece. His lyre was placed by Jupiter among the stars ; but the
shade of the bard passed a second time to Tartarus and rejoined
Eurydice.
Other mortals who visited the Stygian realm and returned were
Hercules, Theseus, Ulysses, and -^neas.^
1 From W. S. Lander's Orpheus and Eurydice in Diy Sticks. 3 See Index.
CHAPTER X
MYTHS OF NEPTUNE, RULER OF THE WATERS
119. Lord of the Sea. Neptune (Poseidon) was lord both of salt
waters and of fresh. The myths that turn on his life as lord of the
sea illustrate his defiant invasions
of lands belonging to other gods, or
his character as earth shaker and
earth protector. Of his contests
with other gods, that with Minerva
for Athens has been related. He
contested Corinth with Helios,
Argos with Juno, jEgina with
Jove, Naxos with Bacchus, and
Delphi with Apollo. That he did
not always make encroachments
in person upon the land that he
desired to possess or to punish,
but sent some monster instead,
will be seen in the myth of An-
dromeda^ and in the following
story of Hesione,' the daughter of '
Laomedon of Troy.
Neptune and Apollo had fallen
under the displeasure of Jupiter
after the overthrow of the giants.
They were compelled, it is said,
to resign for a season their respective functions and to serve
Laomedon, then about to build the city of Troy. They aided the
king in erecting the walls of the city but were refused the wages
agreed upon. Justly offended, Neptune ravaged the land by floods
Fig. 95. Poseidon
M"54-
■Iliad, J, 6^9-, hpnUoAoTu
»A1.
I70 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
and sent against it a sea monster, to satiate the appetite of which
the desperate Laomedon was driven to offer his daughter Hesione.
But Hercules appeared upon the scene, killed the monster, and
rescued the maiden. Neptune, however, nursed his wrath ; and it
was still warm when the Greeks marched against Troy.
Of a like impetuous and ungovernable temper were the sons of
Neptune by mortal mothers. From him were sprung the savage
Laestrygonians, Orion, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the giant Antaeus
whom Hercules slew, Procrustes, and many another redoubtable
being whose fortunes are elsewhere recounted.^
120. Lord of Streams and Fountains. As earth shaker, the ruler
of the deep was known to effect convulsions of nature that made
Pluto leap from his throne lest the firmament of the underworld
might be falling about his ears. But as god of the streams and foun-
tains, Neptune displayed milder characteristics. When Amymone,
sent by her father Danaiis to draw water, was pursued by a satyr,
Neptune gave ear to her cry for help, dispatched the satyr, made
love to the maiden, and boring the earth with his trident called
forth the spring that still bears the Danard's name. He loved the
goddess Ceres also, through whose pastures his rivers strayed ; and
Arne the shepherdess, daughter of King iEolus, by whom he
became the forefather of the Boeotians. His children, Pelias and
Neleus, by the princess Tyro, whom he wooed in the form of her
lover Enipeus, became keepers of horses — animals especially dear
to Neptune. Perhaps it was the similarity of horse-taming to wave-
taming that attracted the god to these quadrupeds ; perhaps it was
because they increased in beauty and speed on the pastures watered
by his streams. It is said, indeed, that the first and fleetest of
horses, Arion, was the offspring of Neptune and Ceres, or of Nep-
tune and a Fury.
121. Pelops and Hlppodamia.^ To Pelops, brother of Niobe,
Neptune imparted skill in training and driving horses, — and with
good effect. For it happened that Pelops fell in love with Hippo-
damia, daughter of GEnomaiis, king of Elis and son of Mars, — a
girl of whom it was reported that none could win her save by
worsting the father in a chariot race, and that none might fail in
1 Sec Index. ^ Hy^us, Fab. 84, 253 ; Pindar, Olymp. i, 114.
MYTHS OF NEPTUNE, RULER OF THE WATERS 171
that race and come off alive. Since an oracle, too, had warned
CEnomaiis to beware of the future husband of his daughter, he had
provided himself with horses whose speed was like the cyclone.
But Pelops, obtaining from Neptune winged steeds, entered the
race and won it, — whether by the speed of his horses or by the
aid of Hippodamia, who, it is said, bribed her father's charioteer,
Myrtilus, to take a bolt out of the chariot of CEnomaus, is uncer-
tain. At any rate, Pelops married Hippodamia. He was so injudi-
cious, however, as to throw Myrtilus into the sea ; and from that
treachery sprang the misfortunes of the house of Pelops. For
Myrtilus, dying, cursed the murderer and his race.
THE Race, Hippodamia l
CHAPTER XI
MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OP HEAVEN
122. MythB of Stare and Winds. The tales of Stars and Winds
and the other lesser powers of the celestial regions are closely inter-
woven. That the winds which sweep heaven should kiss the stars
is easy to understand. The stories of Aurora (Eos) and of Aura, of
Phosphor and of Halcyone, form, therefore, a ready sequence.
Fig. 97- Phosphor, Eos, and Helios (the Sun)
123. Cephalus and Procris.^ Aurora, the goddess of the dawn,
fell in love with Cephalus, a young huntsman. She stole him away,
lavished her love'^pon him, tried to content him, but in vain. He
cared for his young wife Procris more than for the goddess. Finally,
Aurora dismissed him in displeasure, saying, "Go, ungrateful mor-
tal, keep thy wife ; but thou shalt one day be sorry that thou didst
ever see her again."
Cephalus returned and was as happy as before in his wife. She,
being a favorite of Diana, had received from her for the chase a
dog and a javelin, which she handed over to her husband. Of
the dog it is told that when about to catch the swiftest fox in
1 Ovid, Metom. j, 394 il iij,
171
MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 173
the country, he was changed with his' victim into stone. For the
heavenly powers, who had made both and rejoiced in the speed
of both, were not willing that either should conquer. The javelin
was destined to a sad office. It appears that Cephalus, when
weary of the chase, was wont to stretch himself in a certain shady
nook to enjoy the breeze. Sometimes he would say aloud, " Come,
genUe Aura, swept goddess of the breeze, come and allay the heat
that bums me." Some one, foolishly believing that he addressed
a maiden, told the secret to Procris. Hoping against hope, she
stole out after him the next morning and concealed herself in the
, Sun, rising, preceded bv Dawn
From the paiadng by Guido Rem
place which the informer had indicated, Cephalus, when tired with
sport, stretched himself on the green bank and summoned fair
Aura as usual. Suddenly he heard, or thought he heard, a sound as
of a sob in the bushes. Supposing it to proceed from some wild
animal, he threw his javelin at the spot. A cry told him that the
weapon had too surely met its mark. He rushed to the place
and raised his wounded Procris from the earth. She, at last,
opened her feeble eyes and forced herself to utter these words :
" I implore thee, if thou hast ever loved me, if I have ever de-
served kindness at thy hands, my husband, grant me this last
request ; many not that odious Breeze 1 " So Saying, she expired
in her lover's arms.
174
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
124. Dob80n*8 The Deatii of
Procris. A different version of
the story is given in the following :
Procria, the nymph, had wedded
He, till the spring had wanned to
slow-winged days
Heavy with June, untired and amorous,
Named her his love; but now, in
unknown ways,
His heart was gone ; and evermore
his gaze
Turned from het own, and even
farther ranged
His woodland war ; while she, in dull
Beholding with the hours her hus-
band changed.
Sighed for his lost caress, by some
hard god estranged.
So, on a day, she rose and found him not.
Alone, with wet, sad eye, she watched
the shade
Brighten below a soft-rayed sun that shot
Arrows of light through all the deep-
leaved glade ;
Then, with weak hands, she knotted
up the braid
Of her brown hair, and o'er her
shoulders cast
Her crimson weed ; with faltering fin-
gers made
Her golden girdle's clasp to join,
and past
Down tothe trackless wood, full pale
and overcast
And all day long her slight spear
devious flew.
And harmless swerved her arrows
from their aim,
BiYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 175
For ever, as the ivory bow she drew,
Before her ran the still unwounded game.
Then, at the last, a hunter*s ciy there came,
And, lo ! a hart that panted with the chase.
Thereat her cheek was lightened as with flame.
And swift she gat her to a leafy place.
Thinking, " I yet may chance imseen to see his face.**
Leaping he went, this hmiter Cephalus,
Bent in his hand his cornel bow he bare.
Supple he was, round-limbed and vigorous.
Fleet as his dogs, a lean Laconian pair.
He, when he spied the brown of Procris' hair
Move in the covert, deeming that apart
Some fawn lay hidden, loosed an arrow there ;
Nor cared to turn and seek the speeded dart.
Bounding above the fern, fast following up the hart.
But Procris lay among the white wind-flowers,
Shot in the throat. From out the little wound
The slow blood drained, as drops in autumn showers
Drip from the leaves upon the sodden ground.
None saw her die but Lelaps, the swift hound.
That watched her dumbly with a wistful fear,
Till, at the dawn, the horned wood-men found
And bore her gently on a sylvan bier.
To lie beside the sea, — with many an uncouth tear.
125. Ceyx and Halcyone. The son of Aurora and Cephalus was
Phosphor, the Star of Morning. His son Ceyx, king of Trachis in
Thessaly, had married Halcyone, daughter of ^Eolus.^ Their reign
was happy until the brother of Ceyx met his death. The direful
prodigies that followed this event made Ceyx feel that the gods
were hostile to him. He thought best therefore to make a vo)»ge
to Claros in Ionia to consult the oracle of Apollo. In spite of his
wife's entreaties (for as daughter of the god of winds she knew
how dreadful a thing a storm at sea was), Ceyx set sail. He was
shipwrecked and drowned. His last prayer was that the waves
might bear his body to the sight of Halcyone, and that it might
receive burial at her hands.
1 Ovid, Metam. 1 1, 58^748.
176 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
In the meanwhile, Halcyone counted the days til! her husband's
promised return. To all the gods she offered frequent incense, but
more than all to Juno, The goddess, at last, could not bear to be
further pleaded with for one already dead. Calling Iris, she enjoined
her to approach the drowsy dwelling of Somnus and bid him send
a vision to Halcyone in the form of Ceyx, to reveal the sad event.
Iris puts on her robe of many
colors, and tinging the sky with her
bow, seeks the cave near the Cim-
merian country, which is the abode
of the dull god, Somnus. Here
Phcebus dare not come. Clouds
and shadows are exhaled from the
ground, and the light glimmers
faintly. The cock never there calls
aloud to Aurora, nor watchdog nor
goose disturbs the silence. No wild
beast, nor cattle, nor branch moved
with the wind, nor sound of human
conversation breaks the stillness.
From the bottom of the rock the
river Lethe flows, and by its murmur
invites to sleep. Poppies grow before
the door of the cave, from whose
juices Night distills slumbers which
she scatters over the darkened earth.
There is no gate to creak on its
nii. too. IHIl >jOD of OLEEh ... . , i .1
Ihinges, nor any watchman. In the
midst, on a couch of black ebony adorned with black plumes and
black curtains the god reclines, his limbs relaxed in sleep. Around
him lie dreams, resembling all various forms, as many as the har-
vest bears stalks, or the forest leaves, or the seashore sand grains.
Brushing away the dreams that hovered around her, Iris lit up
the cave and delivered her message to the god, who, scarce opening
bis eyes, had great difficulty in shaking himself free from himself.
Then Iris hasted away from the drowsiness creeping over her,
uid returned by her bow as she had come. But Somnus called
MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 177
one of his sons, Morpheus, the most expert in counterfeiting forms
of men, to perform the command of Iris ; then laid his head on
his pillow and yielded himself again to grateful repose.
Morpheus flew on silent wings to the Haemonian city, where he
assumed the form of Ceyx. Pale like a dead man, naked and drip-
ping, he stood before the couch of the wretched wife and told her
that the winds of the ^gean had sunk his ship, that he was dead.
Weeping and groaning, Halcyone sprang from sleep and, with
the dawn, hastening to the seashore, descried an indistinct object
washed to and fro by the waves. As it floated nearer she recog-
nized the body of her husband. In despair, leaping from the mole,
she was changed instantly to a bird, and poured forth a song of
grief as she flew. By the mercy of the gods Ceyx was likewise
transformed. For seven days before and seven days after the win-
ter solstice, Jove forbids the winds to blow. Then Halcyon broods
over her nest ; then the way is safe to seafarers, ^olus confines
the winds that his grandchildren may have peace.
126. Aurora and Tithonus.^ Aurora seems frequently to have
been inspired with the love of mortals. Her greatest favorite, and
almost her latest, was Tithonus, son of Laomedon, king of Troy.
She stole him away and prevailed on Jupiter to grant him immortal-
ity ; but forgetting to have youth joined in the gift, after some time
she began to discern, to her great mortification, that he was grow-
ing old. When his hair was white she left his society ; but he still
had the range of her palace, lived on ambrosial food, and was clad
in celestial raiment. In time he lost the power of using his limbs ;
and then she shut him up in his chamber, whence his feeble voice
might at times be heard. Finally, she turned him into a grasshopper.
127. Tennyson's Tithonus. The following is, according to a fine
poetic conception, the lament of the old man when but a white-
haired shadow :
The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapors weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
1 Homeric Hymn to Venus; Horace, Odes, i, 22 ; 2^ 16 \ A.^oVIo^otmvV^'^>\ V
178 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Consumes : I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world,
A white-haired shadow roaming like a dream
The ever silent spaces of the East,
Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of mom.
Alas ! for this gray shadow, once a man —
So glorious in his beauty and thy choice,
Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd
To his great heart none other than a God !
I ask'd thee, " Give me immortality."
Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,
Like wealthy men who care not how they give ;
But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills,
And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me.
And tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd
To dwell in presence of immortal youth,
Immortal age beside immortal youth.
And all I was, in ashes. Can thy love.
Thy beauty, make amends, tho' even now,
Close over us, the silver star, thy guide.
Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears
To hear me ? Let me go : take back thy gift :
Why should a man desire in any way
To vary from the kindly race of men.
Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance
Where all should pause, as is most meet for all ?
A soft air fans the cloud apart ; there comes
A glimpse of that dark world where I was bora
On(« more the old mysterious glimmer steals
From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure,
And bosom beating with a heart renew'd.
Thy cheek begins to redden thro' the gloom,
Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine.
Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team
Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise,
And shake the darkness from their loosen'd manes.
And beat the twilight into flakes of fire.
Lo ! ever thus thou growest beautiful
In silence, then before thine answer given
Departest, and thy tears are on my cheek.
MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF HEAVEN 179
Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears,
And make me tremble lest a saying learnt
In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true ?
" The gods themselves cannot recall their gifts."
Ay me ! ay me ! with what another heart
In days far-off, and with what other eyes
I used to watch — if I be he that watched —
The lucid outline forming round thee ; saw
The dim curls kindle into sunny rings ;
Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood
Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all
Thy presence and thy portals, while I lay.
Mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm
With kisses balmier than half-opening buds
Of April, and could hear the lips that kissM
Whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet,
Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing.
While Ilion like a mist rose into towers.
Yet hold me not forever in thine East :
How can my nature longer mix with thine?
Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold
Are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet
Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam
Floats up from those dim fields about the homes
Of happy men that have the power to die,
And grassy barrows of the happier dead.
Release me, and restore me to the ground ;
Thou seest all things, thou wilt see my grave :
Thou wilt renew thy beauty mom by morn ;
I earth in earth forget these empty courts.
And thee returning on thy silver wheels.
128. Memnon, the son of Aurora and Tithonus, was king of the
Ethiopians. He went with warriors to assist his kindred in the
Trojan War, and was received by King Priam with honor. He
fought bravely, slew Antilochus, the brave son of Nestor, and held
the Greeks at bay until Achilles appeared. Before that hero he fell.
Then Aurora, seeing her son*s fate, directed his brothers, the
Winds, to convey his body to the banks of the river ^Esepus in
Mysia, In the evening Aurora, accompanied by tiv^ H.cs^s.'s* -^sn.^
i8o
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
rthe Pleiads, bewept her son. Night spread the heaven with clouds ;
all nature mourned for the offspring of the Dawn. The Ethi-
opians raised his tomb on the banks of the stream in the grove of
the Nymphs, and Jupiter
--^^^^^g^^^^^.,^^ caused the sparks and
/^ ^^^^^ 'c-^^^^Bi^ cinders of his funeral pi] e
to be turned into birds,
which, dividing into two
flocks, fought over the
pile till they fell into the
flame. Every year at
the anniversary of his
death they celebrated his
obsequies in like manner.
Aurora remained incon-
solable. The dewdrops
are her tears.'
The kinship of Mem-
non to the Dawn is certi-
fied even after his death.
On the banks of the Nile are two colossal statues, one of which
is called Memnon's; and it was said that when the first rays of
morning fell upon this statue, a sound like the snapping of a harp-
string issued therefrom.^
So to the sacred Sun in Memnon's fane
Spontaneous concords choired the madn strain
Touched by his orient beam responsive rings
The living lyre and vibrates all Its strings ;
Accordant aisles the lender tones prolong,
And holy echoes swell the adoring aong.'
, .3.fi"
Odysiey, 4, i38; 11. Jii
^ Darwin, Botuiic Gardea.
CHAPTER XII
MYTHS OF THE LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC.
129. Pan, and the Personification of Nature. It was a pleasing
trait in the old paganism that it loved to trace in every operation of
nature the agency of deity. The imagination of the Greeks peopled
the regions of earth and sea with divinities, to whose agency it
attributed the phenomena that our philosophy ascribes to the opera-
tion of natural law. So Pan, the god of woods and fields,^ whose
name seemed to signify ally came to be considered a symbol of
the universe and a personification of Nature. ** Universal Pan,"
says Milton in his description of the creation :
Universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.
Later, Pan came to be regarded as a representative of all the
Greek gods and of paganism itself. Indeed, according to an early
Christian tradition, when the heavenly host announced to the shep-
herds the birth of Christ, a deep groan, heard through the isles of
Greece, told that great Pan was dead, that the dynasty of Olympus
was dethroned, and the several deities sent wandering in cold and
darkness.
The lonely mountains o'er,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament ;
From haunted spring and dale.
Edged with poplar pale.
The parting Genius is with sighing sent ;
With flower-inwoven tresses torn,
The nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets moum.«
1 His name is not derived from the Greek pSn^ all, but from the root pH^ to feed, to
pasture (i.e. the flocks and herds). ^ Milton, Hytqxl otk.>i^^^^sixsiS^:).
i8i
l82 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Many a poet has lamented the change. For even if the head
did profit for a time by the revolt against the divine preroga-
tive of nature, it is more than possible that the heart lost in due
proportion.
His sorrow at this loss of imaginative sympathy among the
modems Wordsworth expresses in the sonnet, already cited, be-
ginning "The world is too much with us." Schiller, also, by his
poem, The Gods of Greece, has immortalized his sorrow for the
decadence of the ancient mythology.
Ah, the beauteous world while yet ye ruled it, —
Yet — by gladsome touches of the hand ;
Ah, ihe joyous hearts that still ye governed,
Gods of Beauty, ye, of Fable-land !
Then, ah, then, the mysteries resplendent
Triumphed. — Other was it then, I ween.
When thy shrines were odorous with garlands,
Thou, of Amathus the queen.
Then the gracious veil, of fancy woven.
Fell in folds about the fact uncouth ;
Through the universe life flowed in fullness.
What we feel not now was felt in sooth ;
Man ascribed nobility to Nature,
Rendered love unto the earth he trod.
Everywhere his eye, illuminated.
Saw the footprints of a God.
FlQ. 102. ]
HIS Pipe, Echo
ANSWERING
Lovely world, where art thou? Turn, oh, turn thee.
Fairest blossom-tide of Nature's spring!
Only in the poet's realm of wonder
Liv'st thou, atili, — a fable vanishing.
Reft of life the meadows lie deserted ;
Ne'er a godhead can my fancy see :
Ah, if only of those living colors
Lingered yet the ghost with me I '
It was the poem from which these stanzas are taken that
provoked the well-known reply of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
1 Tnnalated by C. U. Gayley.
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 183
contained in The Dead Pan. Her argument may be gathered
from the following stanzas :
By your beauty which confesses
Some chief Beauty conquering you,
By our grand heroic guesses
Through your falsehood at the True,
We will weep not! earth shall roll
Heir to each god's aureole,
And Pan is dead.
Earth outgrows the mythic fancies
Sung beside her in her youth ;
And those debonair romances
Sound but dull beside the truth.
Phoebus' chariot course is run !
Look up, poets, to the sun !
Pan, Pan is dead.
130. Stedman's Pan in Wall Street.^ That Pan, however, is not
yet dead but alive even in the practical atmosphere of our western
world, the poem here appended, written by one of our recently
deceased American poets, would indicate.
Just where the Treasury's marble front
Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations ;
Where Jews and Gentiles most are wont
To throng for trade and last quotations ;
Where, hour by hour, the rates of gold
Outrival, in the ears of people,
The quarter chimes, serenely tolled
From Trinity's undaunted steeple, —
Even there I heard a strange, wild strain
Sound high above the modem clamor,
Above the cries of greed and gain.
The curbstone war, the auction's hammer ;
And swift, on Music's misty ways.
It led, from all this strife for millions.
To ancient, sweet-do-nothing days
Among the kirtie-robed Sicilians.
1 By Edmund Clarence Stedman.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
And as it still'd the multitude,
And yet more joyous rose, and shriller,
I saw the minstrel where he stood
At ease against a Doric pillar:
One hand a droning organ play'd,
The other held a Pan's pipe (fashioned
Like those of old) to lips that made
The reeds give out that strain impassioned.
'Twas Pan himself had wandered here,
A-stroIling through the sordid city.
And piping to the civic ear
The prelude of some pastoral ditty !
The demigod had cross'd the seas, —
From haunla of shepherd, nymph, and satyr,
And Syracusan times, — to these
Far shores and twenty centuries later.
A ragged cap was on his head :
Bu t ^ hidden thus — there was no doubling
That, all with crispy locks o'erspread.
His gnarled homa were somewhere sprouting;
His club-feet, cased in rusty shoes,
Were cross'd, as on some frieze you see them.
And trousers, patched of divers hues,
Conceal'd his crooked shanks beneath them.
Fig. 104. Bacchic Dance
lie filled the quivering reeds with sound,
And o'er his mouth their changes shifted.
And with his goat's-eyes looked around
Where'er the passing current drifted ;
And soon, as on Trinacrian hills
The nymphs and herdsmen ran to hear him,
Even now the tradesinen from their tills.
With clerks and porters, crowded near him.
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC.
The bulls and bears together drew
From Jauncey Court and New Street Alley,
As erst, if pastorals be true,
Came beasts from every wooded valley ;
The random passers stay'd to list, —
A boxer ^gon, rougK and merry, —
A Broadway Daphnia, on his tryst
With Nais at the Brooklyn Feny.
A one-eyed Cyclops halted long
In tatter'd cloak of army pattern,
And Galatea joined the throng, —
A blowsy, apple-vending slattern ;
While old Silenus stagger'd out
From some new-fangled lunch-house handy
And bade the piper, with a shout,
To strike up " Yankee Doodle Dandy ! "
A newsboy and a f>eanut girl
Like little Fauns began to caper :
His hair was all in tangled curl,
Her tawny legs were bare and taper.
And still the gathering larger grew,
And gave Its pence and crowded nigher.
While aye the shepherd-minstrel blew
His pipe, and struck the gamut higher.
O heart of Nature ! beating sdll
With throbs her vernal passion taught her, —
Even here, as on the vine-clad hill,
Or by the Arethusan water 1
New forms may fold the speech, new lands
Arise within these ocean-portals,
But Music waves eternal wands, —
Enchantress of the souls of mortals !
185
Fic. 105. Silenus
So thought I, — but among us trod
A man in blue with \^al baton ;
And scofPd the vagrant demigod.
And push'd him from the step I sat on.
Doubting I mused upon the cry —
" Great Pan is dead ! " — and all the people
Went on their ways : — and clear and high
The quarter sounded from the afcee^\e.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Other Lesser Gods of Earth. Of the company of the
of earth, besides Pan, were the Siieni, the Sylvans,
the Fauns, and the Satyrs, all male ; the
Oreads and the Dryads or Hamadryads,
female. To these may be added the
Naiads, for, although they dwelt in the
streams, their association with the deities
of earth was intimate. Of the nymphs,
the Oreads and the Naiads were immor-
tal. The love of Pan for Syrinx has
already been mentioned, and his musical
contest with Apollo. Of Silenus we have
seen something in the adventures of
Bacchus. What kind of existence the
Sat>T enjoyed is conveyed in the follow-
ing soliloquy :
Th^ trunk of this tree,
Dusky-leaved, shaggy-rooted,
Is a pillow well suited
To a hybrid like me,
Goat-bearded, goat-footed ;
F.G.,o6. S»TV. For the boughs of ihe glade
Meet above rae, and throw
LESSER DIVINITIES OF KAfeTrf, £TC.
A cool, pleasant shade
On the greenness below ;
Dusky and brown'd
Close the leaves all around ;
And yet, all the while.
Thro' the boughs I can see
A star, with a smile.
Looking at me. . . .
1S7
Why, all day long,
I run about
With a madcap throng,
And laugh and shout.
Silenus grips
My ears, and strides
On ray shaggy hips
And up and down
Tipsily rides ,
And when m doze
His eyelids dose,
OB he tumbles and I
Can his winc-skin steal,
I drink — and feel
The grass roll — ■ sea high ;
Then with shouts and yells
Down mossy dells,
I stagger after
Fig. loS. Satyr Drinki
The wood-nymphs fleet,
Who with mocking laughter
And smiles retreat ;
And just as I clasp
A yielding waist.
With a cry embraced,
— Gush ! it melts from my grasp
Into water cool,
And — bubble ! trouble !
Seeing double !
I stumble and gasp
In some icy pool ! '
1 From The Saqr, by Robert Budiaiun.
Subsequently having fallen in love with Narcissus, the beautiful
son of the river-god Cephissus, Echo found it impossible to express
her regard for him in any way but by mimicking what he s
and what he said, unfortunately, did not always convey her senti-
ments. When, however, he once called across the hills to her,
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 189
** Let us join one another," the maid, answering with all her heart,
hastened to the spot, ready to throw her arms about his neck. He
started back, exclaiming, '* Hands off! I would rather die than
thou shouldst have me!" ''Have me," said she; but in vain.
From that time forth she lived in caves and among mountain cliffs,
and faded away till there was nothing left of her but her voice. But
through his future fortunes she was constant to her cruel lover.
This Narcissus was the embodiment of self-conceit. He shunned
the rest of the nymphs as he had shunned Echo. One maiden,
however, uttered a prayer that he might some time or other feel
what it was to love and meet no return of affection. The avenging
goddess heard. Narcissus, stooping over a river brink, fell in love
with his own image in the water. He talked to it, tried to embrace
it, languished for it, and pined until he died. Indeed, even after
death, it is said that when his shade passed the Stygian river it
leaned over the boat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The
nymphs mourned for Narcissus, especially the water-nymphs ; and
when they smote their breasts, Echo smote hers also. They pre-
pared a funeral pile and would have burned the body, but it was
nowhere to be found. In its place had sprung up a flower, purple
within and surrounded with white leaves, which bears the name
and preserves the memory of the son of Cephissus.
133. Echo, Pan, Lyde, and the Satyr. Another interesting epi-
sode in the life of Echo is given by Moschus : ^
Pan loved his neighbor Echo ; Echo loved
A gamesome Satyr ; he, by her unmoved,
Loved only Lyde; thus through Echo, Pan,
Lyde, and Satyr, Love his circle ran.
Thus all, while their true lovers' hearts they grieved.
Were scorned in turn, and what they gave received.
O all Love's scorners, learn this lesson true :
• Be kind to love, that he be kind to you.
134. The Naiads. These nymphs guarded streams and fountains
of fresh water and, like the Naiad who speaks in the following
verses, kept them sacred for Diana or some other divinity.
1 Idyl VI (Lang's translation). For Moschus, see Commentary, § 298.
I90 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Dian white-arm'd has given me this cool shrine
Deep in the bosom of a wood of pine :
The silver-sparkling showers
That hive me in, the flowers
That prink my fountain's brim, are hers and mine ;
And when the days are mild and fair,
And grass is springing, buds are blowing.
Sweet it is, 'mid waters flowing,
Here to sit and know no care,
'Mid the waters flowing, flowing, flowing,
Combing my yellow, yellow hair.
The ounce and panther down the mountain side
Creep thro' dark greenness in the eventide ;
And at the fountain's brink
Casting great shades, they drink,
Gazing upon me, tame and sapphire-eyed ;
For, awed by my pale face, whose light
Gleameth thro' sedge and lilies yellow
They, lapping at my fountain mellow,
Harm not the lamb that in affright
Throws in the pool so mellow, mellow, mellow.
Its shadow small and dusky-white.
Oft do the fauns and satyrs, flusht with play,
Come to my coolness in the hot noonday.
Nay, once indeed, I vow
By Dian's truthful brow,
The great god Pan himself did pass this way.
And, all in festal oak-leaves clad,
His limbs among these lilies throwing,
Watch'd the silver waters flowing,
Listen'd to their music glad,
Saw and heard them flowing, flowing, flowing,
And ah ! his face was worn and sad !
Mild joys like silvery waters fall ;
But it is sweetest, sweetest far of all,
In the calm summer night.
When the tree-tops look white,
To be exhaled in dew at Dian's call.
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 191
Among my sister-clouds to move
Over the darkness, earth bedimming,
Milky-robed thro' heaven swimming.
Floating round the stars above,
Swimming proudly, swimming proudly, swimming.
And waiting on the Moon I love.
So tenderly I keep this cool, green shrine.
Deep in the bosom of a wood of pine ;
Faithful thro' shade and sun,
That service due and done
May haply earn for me a place divine
Among the white-robed deities
That thread thro' starry paths, attending
My sweet Lady, calmly wending
Thro' the silence of the skies,
Changing in hues of beauty never ending.
Drinking the light of Dian's eyes.^
135. The Dryads, or Hamadryads, assumed at times the forms
of peasant girls, shepherdesses, or followers of the hunt. But they
were believed to perish with certain trees which had been their
abode and with which they had come into existence. Wantonly to
destroy a tree was therefbre an impious act, sometimes severely
punished, as in the cases of Erysichthon and Dryope.
136. Erysichthon,^ a despiser of the gods, presumed to violate
with the ax a grove sacred to Ceres. A venerable oak, whereon
votive tablets had often been hung inscribed with the gratitude
of mortals to the nymph of the tree, — an oak round which the
Dryads hand in hand had often danced, — he ordered his servants
to fell. When he saw them hesitate, he snatched an ax from one,
and boasting that he cared not whether it were a tree beloved of
the goddess or not, addressed himself to the task. The oak seemed
to shudder and utter a groan. When the first blow fell upon the
trunk, blood flowed from the wound. Warned by a bystander to
desist, Erysichthon slew him ; warned by a voice from the nymph
of the tree, he redoubled his blows and brought down the oak.
The Dryads invoked punishment upon Erysichthon.
1 From The Naiad, by Robert Buchanan. 2 Qvld, M.e.Xaxcv.'^.T^'^^V
192 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The goddess Ceres, whom they had supplicated, nodded her
assent. She dispatched an Oread to ice-clad Scythia, where Cold
abides, and Fear and Shuddering and Famine. At Mount Cau-
casus, the Oread stayed the dragons of Ceres that drew her chariot ;
for afar off she beheld Famine, forespent with hunger, pulling up
with teeth and claws the scanty herbage from a stony field. To her
the nymph delivered the commands of Ceres, then returned in
haste to Thessaly, for she herself began to be an hungered.
The orders of Ceres were executed by Famine, who, speeding
through the air, entered the dwelling of Erysichthon and, as he
slept, enfolded him with her wings and breathed herself into him.
In his dreams the caitiff craved food ; and when he awoke, his
hunger raged. The more he ate, the more he craved, till, in
default of money, he sold his daughter into slavery for edibles.
Neptune, however, rescued the girl by changing her into a fisher-
man ; and in that form she assured the slave-owner that she had
seen no woman or other person, except herself, thereabouts. Then,
resuming her own appearance, she was again and again sold by her
father ; while by Neptune's favor she became on each occasion a
different animal, and so regained her home. Finally, increasing
demands of hunger compelled the father to devour his own limbs ;
and in due time he finished himself off.
137. Dryope, the wife of Andraemon, purposing with her sistei
lole to gather flowers for the altars of the nymphs, plucked the
purple blossoms of a lotus plant that grew near the water, and
offered them to her child. lole, about to do the same thing, per-
ceived that the stem of the plant was bleeding. Indeed, the plant
was none other than a nymph, Lotis, who, escaping from a base
pursuer, had been thus transformed.
Dryope would have hastened from the spot, but the displeasure
of the nymph had fallen upon her. While protesting her inno-
cence, she began to put forth branches and leaves. Praying her
husband to see that no violence was done to her, to remind their
child that every flower or bush might be a goddess in disguise, to
bring him often to be nursed under her branches, and to teach
him to say " My mother lies hid under this bark," — the luckless
woman assumed the shape of a lotus.
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 193
138. Rhoecus.^ The Hamadryads could appreciate services as
well as punish injuries.
Hear now this fairy legend of old Greece,
As full of freedom, youth, and beauty still.
As the immortal freshness of that grace
Carved for all ages on some Attic frieze.^
Rhoecus, happening to see an oak just ready to fall, propped
it up. The nymph, who had been on the point of perishing with
the tree, expressed her gratitude to him and bade him ask what
reward he would. Rhoecus boldly asked her love, and the nymph
yielded to his desire. At the same time charging him to be mind-
ful and constant, she promised to expect him an hour before sunset
and, meanwhile, to communicate with him by means of her mes-
senger, — a bee :
Now, in those days of simpleness and faith,
Men did not think that happy things were dreams
Because they overstepped the narrow bourn
Of likelihood, but reverently deemed
Nothing too wondrous or too beautiful
To be the guerdon of a daring heart.
So Rhoecus made no doubt that he was blest,
And all along unto the city's gate
Earth seemed to spring beneath him as he walked,
The clear, broad sky looked bluer than its wont.
And he could scarce believe he had not wings.
Such sunshine seemed to glitter through his veins
Instead of blood, so light he felt and strange.
But the day was past its noon. Joining some comrades over the
dice, Rhoecus forgot all else. A bee buzzed about his ear. Impa-
tiently he brushed it aside :
Then through the window flew the wounded bee.
And Rhoecus, tracking him with angry eyes,
Saw a sharp mountain peak of Thessaly
Against the red disk of the setting sun, —
And instantly the blood sank from his heart. . . .
1 See note (Scholium) on the Argonautics of ApoUonius, B 477. Keil's edition, p. 415, 1. 31.
« J. R. Lowell, Rhoecus. The student should read the whole ^oenv.
194 ^^^ CLASSIC MYTHS
. . . Quite spent and out of breath he reached the tree.
And, listening fearfully, he heard once more
The low voice murmur, " Rhoecus ! " close at hand :
Whereat he looked around him, but could see
Naught but the deepening glooms beneath the oak.
Then sighed the voice, " O Rhoecus ! nevermore
Shalt thou behold me or by day or night,
Me, who would fain have blessed thee with a love
More ripe and bounteous than ever yet
Filled up with nectar any mortal heart :
But thou didst scorn my humble messenger
And sent'st him back to me with bruised wings.
We spirits only show to gentle eyes.
We ever ask an undivided love,
And he who scorns the least of Nature's works
Is thenceforth exiled and shut out from all.
Farewell ! for thou canst never see me more."
Then Rhoecus beat his breast, and groaned aloud.
And cried, " Be pitiful ! forgive me yet
This once, and I shall never need it more ! "
"Alas ! " the voice returned, " 't is thou art blind,
Not I unmerciful ; I can forgive,
But have no skill to heal thy spirit's eyes ;
Only the soul hath power o'er itself."
With that again there murmured, " Nevermore I "
And Rhoecus after heard no other sound,
Except the rattling of the oak's crisp leaves,
Like the long surf upon a distant shore,
Raking the sea-worn pebbles up and down.
The night had gathered round him : o'er the plain
The city sparkled with its thousand lights.
And sounds of revel fell upon his ear
Harshly and like a curse ; above, the sky,
With all its bright sublimity of stars.
Deepened, and on his forehead smote the breeze:
Beauty was all around him and delight,
But from that eve he was alone on earth.
According to the older tradition, the nymph deprived Rhoecus
of his physical sight ; but the superior insight of LowelFs inter-
pretation is evident.
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 195
139. Pomona and Vertnnmus.^ Pomona was a Hamadryad of
Roman mythology, guardian especially of the apple orchards, but
presiding also over other fruits. " Bear me, Pomona," sings one of
our poets, — „ „ . ,. ■
^ ' Bear me, Pomona, to thy citron groves,
To where the lemon and the piercing lime,
With the deep orange, glowing through the green,
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclined
Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes,
Fanned by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit.*
This nymph had scorned the offers of love made her by Pan,
Sylvanus, and innumerable Fauns and Satyrs. Vertumnus, too,,
she had time and again refused. But he, the
deity of gardens and of the changing seasons,
unwearied, wooed her in as many guises as
his seasons themselves could assume. Now
as a reaper, now as haymaker, now as plow-
man, now as vinedresser, now as apple-pJcker,
now as fisherman, now as soldier, ~ all to no
avail. Finally, as an old woman, he came to
her, admired her fruit, admired especially the
luxuriance of her grapes, descanted on the
dependence of the luxuriant vine, close by,
upon the elm to which it was clinging ;
advised Pomona, likewise, to choose some
youth — say, for instance, the young Vertum-
nus — about whom to twine her arms. Then
he told how the worthy Iphis, spurned by Fig. no. A Rustic
Ahaxarete, had hanged himself to her gate- .,
post ; and how the gods had turned the hard-hearted virgin to stone
even as she gazed on her lover's funeral. " Consider these things,
dearest child," said the seeming old woman, " lay aside thy scorn
and thy delays, and accept a lover. So may neither the vernal frosts
blight thy young fruits, nor furious winds scatter thy blossoms ! "
When Vertumnus had thus spoken, he dropped his disguise
and stood before Pomona in his proper person, — a comely youth.
Such wooing, of course, could not but win its just reward.
1 Ovid, Metam, 14, 613-771. * 't\\inn«m,'Jitaamia.
196 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
140. The Cranes of Ibycos.' The Furies, called also Dirae
(the terrible ones), Erinyes (the persecutors, or the angered ones),
and finally, by way of euphemism, Eumenides (the well-meaning),
though they were spirits of the underworld, visited earth to punish
filial disobedience, irreverence to old age, perjury, murder, treach-
ery to guests, even unkindness toward beggars. They avenged the
ghosts of such as, dying violent deaths, possessed on earth no rep-
resentatives either by law or by kindred to avenge them. There-
fore, as we shall see, they persecuted Orestes, who had slain his
mother. Therefore, like the accusing voice
of conscience, they marshaled to punish-
ment the murderers of Ibycus.
This poet, beloved of Apollo, was, while
journeying to the musical contest of the
Isthmus at Corinth, attacked by two robbers
in the Corinthian grove of Neptune. Over-
come by them, he commended his cause as
he fell to a flock of cranes that happened
to be screaming hoarsely overhead. But
when his body was found, all Greece, then
gathered at the festival, demanded vengeance
on the murderer.
Soon afterward, the vast assemblage in
the amphitheater sat listening to a play in
which the Chorus personated the Furies.
1 black, bore in their fleshless hands torches
blazing with a pitchy flame. Advancing with measured step, they
formed ranks in the orchestra. Their cheeks were bloodless, and
in place of hair writhing serpents curled around their brows.
Forming a circle, these awful beings sang their hymn. High it
swelled, overpowering the sound of the instruments :
" Happy the man whose heart is pure from guilt and crime !
Him we avengers touch not; he treads the path of life secure
from us. But woe t woe ! to him who has done the deed of secret
murder. We, the fearful brood of Night, fasten ourselves upon
him, soul and flesh. Thinks he by flight to escape us > Fly we
I Ct. Cicero, Tuaculan Diaputations, 4. 33, 71 ; and Statius, Silvee, ; j, i;i.
The Choristers, clad ii
LESSER DIVINITIES OF EARTH, ETC. 197
still faster in pursuit, twine our snakes around his feet, and bring him
to the ground. Unwearied we pursue ; no pity checks our course ;
still on, still on to the end of life, we give no peace, no rest."
Stillness like the stillness of death sat over the assembly. Sud-
denly a cry burst from one of the uppermost benches, — **Lo,
comrade, the avengers of Ibycus ! " A flock of cranes crossed the
sky. '*The murderer has informed against himself,'* shouted the
assemblage. The inference was correct. The criminals, straight-
way seized, confessed the crime and suffered the penalty.
CHAPTER XIII
MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS
141. Galatea and Polyphemus. The water-gods may be roughly
classed as dwellers in the sea and dwellers in the streams. Of the
former, daughters of Nereus and Doris, none was fairer than Gala-
tea, sister of Amphitrite and Thetis. She loved Acis, the son of
Faunus by a Naiad, and was loved in return ; but her happiness
was disturbed and finally ruined by the persistent and jealous at-
tentions of the Cyclops Polyphemus.
For the first time in his life the Cyclops began to care for his
appearance ; he harrowed his coarse locks with a currycomb, mowed
his beard with a sickle, and, looking into the sea when it was calm,
soliloquized, " Beautiful seems my beard, beautiful my one eye, —
as I count beauty, — and the sea reflects the gleam of my teeth
whiter than the Parian stone.'* ^
. . . He loved, not with apples, not roses, nor locks of hair, but with fatal
frenzy ; and all things else he held but trifles by the way. Many a time from
the green pastures would his ewes stray back, self-shepherded, to the fold.
But he was singing of Galatea ; and pining in his place, he sat by the sea-
weed of the beach from the dawn of day with the direst hurt beneath his
breast of mighty Cypris' sending, — the wound of her arrow in his heart !
Yet this remedy he found, and sitting on the crest of the tall cliff and
looking to the deep, 'twas thus he would sing ;
" Oh, milk-white Galatea, why cast off him that loves thee ? More white
than is pressed milk to look upon, more delicate than the lamb art thou, than
the young calf wantoner, more sleek than the unripened grape ! Here dost
thou resort, even so, when sweet sleep possesses me, and home straightway
dost thou depart when sweet sleep lets me go, fleeing me like an ewe that
has seen the gray wolf. I fell in love with thee, maiden, I, on the day when
first thou camest, with my mother, and didst wish to pluck the hyacinths from
the hill, and I was thy guide on the way. But to leave loving thee when
1 Theocritus, Idyl VI. See Andrew Lang's translation.
198
MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS 199
e I had seen thee, neither afterward, ni
n from chat hour. But to thee all this i(
It all I
now at all, have I the strength,
s nothing, by Zeus, nay, nothing
" I know, thou gracious maiden, why it is that thou dost shun me. It is
all for the shaggy brow that spans my forehead, from this to the other ear,
cfne long, unbroken eyebrow. And but one eye is on my forehead, and broad
is the nose that overhangs my lip. Yet I (even such as thou seest me) feed a
thousand cattle, and from these i draw
and drink the best milk in the world.
And cheese I never lack, in summer time.
or autumn, nay, nor in the dead of winter,
but my baskets are always overladen.
"Also I ara skilled in piping, as none
other of the Cyclopes here, and of thee,
my love, my aweet apple, and of myself,
loo, I sing, many a lime, deep in the night.
And for thee I lend eleven fawns, all cres-
cent browed, and four young whelps of the
bear. Nay, come thou to me and thou shalt
lack nothing that now thou hast. , . .
" But if thou dost refuse because my
body seems shaggy and rough, well, I have
faggots of oak-wood, and beneath the ashes
is fire unwearied, and I would endure to let
thee bum my very soul, and this my one
eye, the dearest thing that is mine.
"Ah me, that my mother bore me not
a finny thing, so would I have gone down
Co thee, and kissed thy hand, if thy lips
thou would not suffer me to kiss! And '""■ 'J,^ "'""^
I would have brought thee either white
lilies or the soft poppy with its scarlet pietals. Nay, these a
flowers, and those are flowers of winter, so I could not have brought thee
them all at one time.
" Now, verily, maiden, now and here will I learn Co swim, if perchance
some stranger come hither, sailing with his ship, that 1 may see why it is so
dear to thee to have thy dwelling in the deep. Come forth, Galatea, and
forget as thou comesC, even as I that sit here have forgotten, the homeward
"Oh, Cyclops, Cyclops, whither are thy wits wandering? Ah, that thou
wouldst go and weave thy wickerwork and gather broken boughs to carry Co
thy lambs ; in faith, if thou didst this, far wiser wouldst. thoM, \>eV
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
"Milk the ewe that thou hast; why pursue the thing tliat shuns thee?
' Thou will find, perchance, another, and a fairer, Galatea. Many be the girls
e stay with them, and softly they all laugh, if perchance 1 answer
[ them. On land it is plain that I, too, seem Co be somebody '. " '
Having one day, in such wise sung, Polyphemus wandered,
' beside himself for passion, into the woods. On a sudden he came
sight of Galatea and Acis in the hollow of a rock, where they
had hearkened to the strains of the Cyclops. The monster, infuriate,
crying that this should be the last of
their love-meetings, overwhelmed his
rival with a tremendous rock. Purple
blood spirted iwm under the stone, by
degrees grew paler, and finally became
the stream that still bears the name of
the unfortunate youth. But Galatea re-
mained inconsolable.'^
142. Glaucus and Scylla.^ Another
deity of the sea was Glaucus, the son
of that Sisyphus who was punished in
Hades for his treachery to the gods.
Glaucus had been a comely young fish-
erman ; but having noticed that a cer-
tain herb revived fishes after they were
brought to land, he ate of it and suffered
metamorphosis into something new and strange, half man, half
I fish, and after the fashion of a sea-god. Of his experience during
\ this " sea change " the following is an account :
I plunged for life or death. To interknit
One's senses with so dense a breathing stuff
Might seem a work of pain ; so not enough
Can 1 admire how crystal-smooth it felt,
And buoyant round my limbs. At tirst I dwelt
Whole days and days in sheer astonishment;
Forgetful utterly of self-intent,
Moving but with the mighty ebb and flow.
Then like a new-fledged Wrd that first doth show
10vid,Metam. 13.;
buUu», 3, 4-«9.
, A Sea-God
MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS 20 1
His spreaded feathers to the morrow chill,
I tried in fear the pinions of my will.
'T was freedom ! and at once I visited
The ceaseless wonders of this ocean bed.*
He became guardian of fishes and divers and of those who go
down to the sea in ships. Later, being infatuated of the fair vir-
gin Scylla (daughter of the sea-god Phorcys and granddaughter of
Pontus), he paid his court to her, but the maiden rejected him.
Whereupon, in desperation, Glaucus sought the aid of Circe, an
enchantress. She, because she coveted for herself the handsome
sea-green god, transformed her rival into a monster hideously
fashioned of serpents and barking dogs.^ In this shape Scylla
thereafter infested the shore of Sicily and worked evil to mariners,^
till finally she was petrified as a reef, none the less perilous to
all seafarers.
A modem version of the fate of Glaucus and Scylla is given by
Keats in the Endymion. Glaucus consents to Circe's blandish-
ments for a season, but becoming disgusted with her treachery
and cruelty, he endeavors to escape from her. The attempt prov-
ing unsuccessful, he is brought back and sentenced to pass a
thousand years in decrepitude and pain. Consequently, returning
to the sea, he there discovers the body of Scylla, whom the god-
dess has not transformed, but drowned, and learns that if he
passes his thousand years in collecting the bodies of drowned
lovers, a youth beloved of the gods will, in time, appear and help
him. This prophecy is fulfilled by Endymion, Who aids in restor-
ing Glaucus to youth, and Scylla and the drowned lovers to life.
143. Nisus and Scylla.^ The daughter of Phorcys is fre-
quently confounded with another Scylla, daughter of King Nisus
of Megara. Scylla of Megara betrayed her father to his enemy,
Minos II of Crete, with whom, although the kings were at war,
she had fallen violently in love. It seems that Nisus had on his
head a purple lock of hair, upon which depended his fortune and
his life. This lock his daughter clipped and conveyed to Minos.
But recoiling from the treacherous gift, that king, after he had
1 From Keats' Endymion. 2 §§ 50, 52, and Commentary.
8 See §§ 239, 250, Adventures of Ulysses and ^neas. ^ X.^c>^odoT\3L'&^ -^^^ \^^\^.
202 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
conquered Megara, bound Scylla to the rudder of his ship and so
dragged her through the waves toward Crete. The girl was ulti-
mately transformed into the monster of the barking dogs, or, ac-
cording to another authority, into a bird continually the prey of
the sea eagle, whose form her father Nisus had assumed.
144. Leucothea.^ Another sea change was that of Ino, the
daughter of Cadmus and wife of Athamas, who, flying from her
frantic husband, sprang, with her child Melicertes in her arms,
from a cliff into the sea. The gods, out of compassion, made her
a goddess of the sea under the name of Leucothea, and her son
a god under that of Palaemon. Both were held powerful to save
from shipwreck and were invoked by sailors. Palaemon was usu-
ally represented as riding on a dolphin. In his honor the Isthmian
games were celebEated. By the Romans he was called Portumnus,
and had jurisdiction of ports and shores.
145. Proteus and Aristaeus.^ Though Aristaeus, the lover of
Eurydice, was son of Apollo and guardian himself of herds and
flocks, protector of vine and olive, and keeper of bees, still he
was son of Cyrene, a water-nymph, and his most interesting ad-
venture brought him into contact with another deity of the sea.
His bees having perished, Aristaeus resorted for aid to his
mother. She, surrounded by her maidens in the crystalline abode
under her river, overheard his complaints and ordered that he
should be brought into her presence. The stream at her com-
mand opened itself and let him enter, while it stood heaped like
a mountain on either side. Cyrene and her nymphs, having poured
out libations to Neptune, gave the youth to eat and listened to his
complaint, then informed him that an aged prophet named Proteus,
who dwelt in the sea and pastured the sea calves of Neptune,
could explain the cause of the mortality among the bees and how
to remedy it ; but that the wizard would have to be chained and
compelled to answer, and that even when chained, he would try to
escape by assuming a series of dreadful forms. " Still, thou hast
but to keep him fast bound," concluded Cyrene, " and at last,
when he finds his arts of no avail, he will obey thy behest." The
1 Ovid, Metam. 4, 432-542.
2 Cf. Odyssey, 4, 410; Ovid, Fasti, i, 369; Virgil, Georgics, 4, 317.
MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS 203
nymph then sprinkled her son with nectar, whereupon an unusual
vigor filled his frame and courage his heart.
Cyrene led her son to the prophet's cave, which was in the
island of Pharos, or of Carpathos,^ and concealed him. At noon
issued Proteus from the water, followed by his herd of sea calves,
which spread themselves along the shore. He, too, stretched him-
self on the floor of the cave and went to sleep. Aristaeus immedi-
ately clapped fetters on him and shouted at the top of his voice.
Proteus, finding himself captured, resorted to his craft, becoming
first a fire, then a flood, then a horrible wild beast, in rapid suc-
cession ; nor did he succumb till all schemes had failed to set him
free. Then he resumed his old form and, in response to the
questioning of Aristaeus, said : ** Thou receivest the merited reward
of thy deed, by which Eurydice met her death. To avenge her,
the nymphs have sent this destruction on thy bees. Their anger
thou must appease. Four bulls shalt thou select, of perfect form
and size, and foUr cows of equal beauty ; and four altars shalt thou
ouild to the nymphs, and shalt sacrifice the animals, leaving their
carcasses in the leafy grove. To Orpheus and Eurydice thou shalt
pay such funeral honors as may allay their resentment. Returning
after nine days, examine the bodies of the cattle slain and see
what has befallen." Aristaeus faithfully obeyed these directions.
Returning to the grove on the ninth day he found that a swarm
of bees had taken possession of one of the carcasses and were pur-
suing their labors there as in a hive.^
146. Acheloiis and Hercules.^ A similar contest took place
between Hercules and the river-god Acheloiis. The cause of the
strife was Dejanira of Calydon, whom both heroes loved. Hercules
boasted his divine descent. Acheloiis, not content with advanc-
ing his claim as lord of the mightiest and most ancient river of
Greece, insinuated suspicions with regard to the value of Hercules*
pretensions. Then began a mighty struggle. Finding he was no
match for Hercules in the wrestler's art, Acheloiis glided away
in the form of a serpent. Hercules, remarking that it was the
labor of his infancy to strangle snakes,^ clasped the neck of
1 Cf. § 147, Milton's Carpathian Wizard. 8 Qvid, Metam. 9, 1-100.
8 See Commentary. * ^ I'^fe.
^B 204. THE CLASSIC MYTHt^ l^^^f
AchcloCis and choked him. Tlien
Achelous assumed the seeming of
a bull. Whereupon Hercules, seiz-
ing him by the horns, dragged his
head to the ground, overthrew him.
and rent one horn away. This
trophy the Naiads consecrated and
filled with flowers for Che goddess
of Plenty, who, adopting it as her
\ m
s>'mbol, named it Cornucopia.
147. Uilton's Sabrina Fair. No
writer in modern times has made
1
^^
more graceful poetic use of the divini-
[''■■-.
^
ties of the streams than has Milton.
Hj^^ ^ If ^■^s^jS^A\\
5
The following song, chanted by a
Bs^^SPI
%
Spirit in invocation of " the gentle
5
nymph "(of the poet's invention)
^
" that with moist curb sways the
'
smooth Severn stream," is but one
l!!
refrain of many caught by the poet
k^^^jjf^-^^^. \^ ja.
K
from the far-echoing chorus of clas-
z
sical verse :
5
Sabrina fair.
■2
Listen where thou art sining
Under Ihe glassy, cool, translucent wave.
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
^^feiW
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair ;
Listen for dear honor's sake,
Kjiffl^l,\U
Goddess of the silver lake,
Hpw^I
Usten and save.
Listen and appear to us
In name of great Oceanus.
■K2^^^
By Ih' earth-shaking Neptune's mace.
And Tethys' grave, majestic pace.
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
And the Carpathian wizard's hook.
^^'^p^bMr.
By scaly Triton's winding shell.
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,
k
A
MYTHS OF LESSER DIVINITIES OF THE WATERS 205
By Leucothea's lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet.
And the songs of Sirens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's^ dear tomb
And fair Ligea's^ golden comb.
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft, alluring locks,
By all the nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance ;
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
From thy coral-paven bed.
And bridle in thy headlong wave.
Till thou our summons answered have.
Listen and save.^
1 See Commentaiy. 2 Milton, Comus, 859-889.
CHAPTER XIV
MYTHS OF THE OLDER HEROES : THE HOUSE
OF DANAtJS, AND ITS CONNECTIONS
148. The Older and the Younger Heroes. We have already
narrated the adventures of certain demigods and heroes, such
as Prometheus, Deucalion, Cadmus, Amphion, Orpheus. Others
of importance were Perseus, Hercules, Minos, CEdipus, Theseus,
Jason, Meleager, Peleus, Pelops, Castor and Pollux. These and
their contemporaries may be called the Older Heaves, They are
renowned either for individual exploits or for the part played by
them in one or more of three great expeditions, — the War against
Laomedon of Troy, the Voyage for the Golden Fleece, and the
Hunt of the Calydonian Boar.
The Younger Heroes were of a later generation, which was
concerned in four important enterprises, — the War of the Seven
against Thebes, the Trojan War, the Wanderings of Ulysses, and
the Adventures of -^neas.
The exploits of the Older Heroes may be arranged in respect of
their probable sequence in time, and of their grouping according
to families of heroes. If we observe the principle of genealogy,
one race, that of Inachus of Argos, attracts our notice in the heroes
descended from Pelasgus,^ Belus, and Agenor. The family of Belus
gives us the famous House of Danaiis, the family of Agenor the
Houses of Minos and Labdacus. Another race, that of Deucalion,
gives us the heroes of the Hellenic branch, most notably those
descended from ^olus. With these families most of the Older
Heroes are, by blood or by adventure, to some extent connected.
Bearing this fact in mind and at the same time observing the
chronological sequence of adventures, we obtain an arrangement of
myths as illustrating the races, families, or houses — (i) of Danaiis
of Argos, (2) of iEolus of Thessaly, (3) of ^Etolus, (4) of Minos
1 § 21, and Commentary, § 57.
206
OLDER HEROES : HOUSE OF DANAOS, ETC. 207
of Crete, (5) of Cecrops and of Erichthonius of Attica, (6) of
Labdacus of Thebes.^
149. The Genealt^y of Danaiis. As the Hellenes, in the north,
traced their descent from Deucalion and Pyrrha of Thessaly, so the
Pelasgic races of the south from the river-god Inachus, son of
Oceanus. The son of Inachus, Phoroneus, lived in the Pelopon-
nesus and founded the town of Argos, This Phoroneus conferred
upon the Argives the benefits attributed by other Greeks to Pro-
metheus. He was succeeded by his son Pelasgus, from whom
a division of the Greek people derive their name. With the
love of Jupiter for the sister of Phoroneus, the fair lo, we are
already acquainted. Her son was Epaphus, king of Egypt, from
whom were descended
(I) Agenor of Phce-
nicia, father of Europe
and Cadmus, and (2)
Belus of Egypt, father
of ^gyptus and Da-
naus. To the family
of Agenor we shall re-
turn in the history of
Minos, son of Europa,
and of CEdipus, de-
scendant of Cadmus.
Fig. 115. The DanaIds
150. The Danaids.^ ^Egyptus and his fifty sons drove Danaiis
and his fifty daughters back to Argos, the ancestral home of the
race. Finally, a reconciliation was arranged by means of a fiftyfold
marriage between the sons of JEgyp\xis and the Danalds. But in
accordance with a treacherous command of Danaiis, all his daugh-
ters save Hypermnestra slew their husbands on the wedding night.
For this crime the forty-nine Danards were condemned to spend
eternity in Tartarus, trying to fill with water a vessel full of holes.
From Hypermnestra and her husband, Lynceus, was sprung the
royal house of Argos. Their son was Abas, their grandson, Acri-
sius, — of whom the following narrative is told.
2o8 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
151. The Doom of King Acrisius.' The daughter of Acrisius
was Danae, of surpassing loveliness. In consequence of an oracle
which had prophesied that the son of Danae would be the means
of his grandfather's death, the hapless girl was shut in an under-
ground chamber, that no man might love or wed her. But Jupiter,
distilling himself into a shower of gold, flooded the girl's prison,
wooed, and won her. Their son was Perseus. King Acrisius, in
dismay, ordered mother and child to be boxed up in a chest and
set adrift on the sea. The two unfortunates were, however, rescued
at Seriphus by a fisherman, who conveyed the mother and infant
Fig. ii6 DAHAh
to Polydectes, king of the countiy, by whom they were treated at
first with kindness, but afterwards with cruelty.
152. Perseus and Hedusa.^ When Perseus was grown up, Poly-
dectes sent him to attempt the conquest of the Gorgon Medusa,^
a terrible monster who had laid waste the country. She had once
been a maiden whose hair was her chief glory, but as she dared to vie
in beauty with Minerva, the goddess deprived her of her charms and
changed her ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a monster
of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could behold her
without being turned into stone. All around the cavern where she
dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men and animals that had
msanias, and Kyginus (Fables).
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANaOS, ETC.
209
chanced to catch a glimpse of her and had been ]>etrified at the
sight. Perseus, favored by Minerva and Mercury, set out againit
the Gorgon, and approached first the cave of the three Grsa; /
There sat the crones that had the single eye, I
Clad in blue sweeping cloak and snow-white gown ; '
While o'er their backs their straight white hair hung down
In long thin locks ; dreadful their
faces were,
Carved all about with wrinkles
of despair ;
And as they sat ihey crooned a
dreary song,
Complaining that their lives
should last so long.
In that sad place that no one
In that wan place desert of hope
and fear ;
And singing, sdll they rocked
their bodies bent,
And ever each to each the eye
they sent.'
Snatching the eye, Perseus compelled the Grsese, as the price
of its restoration, to tell him how he might obtain the helmet of
Hades that renders its wearer invisible,
and the winged shoes and pouch that
were necessary. With this outfit, to
which Minerva added her shield and
Mercury his knife, Perseus sped to the ^
hall of the Gorgons. In silence sat two ,
of the sisters, —
But a third woman paced about the hall,
And ever turned her head from wall to wall
And moaned aloud, and shrieked in her despair ;
Because the golden tresses of her hair
Were moved by writhing snakes from side to side,
That in their writhing oftentimes would glide
Doom of King AcrisiuB, in T^ie 'E.arto's^ ■tsiaSat.
2IO THE CLASSIC MYTHS
On to her breasi, or shuddering shoulders white;
Or, falling down, the hideous things would light
Upon her feet, and crawling thence would twine
Their slimy folds about her ankles fine,'
This was Medusa. Her, while she was praying the gods to end
her misery, or, as some say, while she was sleeping, Perseus ap-
proached, and, guided by her
image reflected in the bright
shield which he bore, cut off
her head, and so ended her
miserable existence. Thus are
described the horror and the
grace of her features in death :
ll lieth, gazing on the midnight sky,
Upon the cloudy mountain peak
Below, far lands are seen tremblingly;
Its horror and its beauty are divine.
Upon its lips and eyelids seems to lie
Loveliness like a shadow, from which
Fiery and lurid, struggling underneath,
The agonies of anguish and of death.
Yet it is less the horror than the grace
Which turns the gazer's spirit into
Whereon the lineaments of that dead
Are graven, till the character* be
grown
Into itself, and thought no more can
Ferse'us _trace;
1 the melodious hue of beauty
thrown
From the sculpture by C«]U
Athwart the darkness and the glare of pain,
Which humanize and harmonize the strain.* ,
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAOS, ETC. 21 1
153. Perseus and Atlas. From the body of Medusa sprang
the winged horse Pegasus, of whose rider, Bellerophon, we shall
presently be informed.
After the slaughter of Medusa, Perseus, bearing with him the head
of the Gorgon, flew far and wide, over land and sea. As night came
on, he reached the western limit of the earth, and would gladly have
rested till morning. Here was the realm of Atlas, whose bulk sur-
passed that of all other men. He was rich in flocks and herds, but
his chief pride was his garden of the Hesperides, whose fruit was
of gold, hanging from golden branches,
half hid with golden leaves, Perseus said
to him, " I come as a guest. If thou hold-
est in honor illustrious descent, I claim
Jupiter for my father ; if mighty deeds, I
plead the conquest of the Gorgon. I seek
rest and food." But Atlas, remembering
an ancient prophecy that had warned him
against a son of Jove who should one day
rob him of his golden apples, attempted
to thrust the youth out. Whereupon Per-
seus, finding the giant too strong for him,
held up the Gorgon's head. Atlas, with
all his bulk, was changed into stone. His
beard and hair became forests, his arms
and shoulders cliffs, his head a summit, and
his bones rocks. Each part increased in mass till the giant became
the mountain upon whose shoulders rests heaven with all its stars,
154. Perseus and Andromeda. On his way back to Seriphus, the
Gorgon-slayer arrived at the country of the Ethiopians, over whom
Cepheus was king. His wife was Cassiopea — :
That starred lEthiope queen that strove
To set her t>eaijty's praise above
The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended.'
These nymphs had consequently sent a sea monster to ravage
the coast. To appease the deities, Cepheus was directed by the
212 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
oracle to devote his daughter Andromeda to the ravening maw
of the prodigy. As Perseus looked down from his aerial height,
he beheld the virgin chained to a rock. Drawing nearer he pitied,
then comforted her, and sought the reason of her disgrace. At
first from modesty she was silent ; but when he repeated his ques-
tions, for fear she might be thought guilty of some offense which
she dared not tell, she disclosed her name and that of her country,
and her mother's pride of beauty. Before she had done speaking, a
sound was heard upon the water, and the monster appeared. The vir-
gin shrieked ; the father and mother, who had now arrived, poured
forth lamentations and threw their arms about the victim. But the
hero himself undertook to slay the monster, on condition that, if the
maiden were rescued by his valor, she should be his reward. The
parents consented. Perseus embraced his promised bride ; then —
Loosing his arms from her waist he flew upward, awaiting the sea beast.
Onward it came from the southward, as bulky and black as a galley,
Lazily coasting along, as the hah fled leaping before it ;
Lazily breasting the ripple, and watching by sand bar and headland,
Listening for laughter of maidens at bleaching, or song of the fisher,
Children at play on the pebbles, or cattle that passed on the sand hills.
Rolling and dripping it came, where bedded in glistening purple
Cold on the cold seaweeds l^y the long white sides of the maiden,
Trembling, her face in her hands, and her tresses afloat on the water.'
1 From Charles King»ley'« Andromeda.
PERSEUS FREEING ANDROMEDA
OLDER HEROES : HOUSE OF DANAtrS, ETC. f\ 3
The youth darted down upon the back of the monster and
plunged his sword into its shoulder, then eluded its furious attack
by means of his wings. Wherever he could find a passage for his
sword, he plunged it between the scales of flank and side. The
wings of the hero were finally drenched and unmanageable with the
blood and water that the brute spouted. Then alighting on a rock
and holding by a projection, he gave the monster his deathblow.
The joyful parents, with Perseus and Andromeda, repaired to
the palace, where a banquet was opened for them. But in the
midst of the festivities a noise was heard of warlike clamor, and
Phineus, who had formerly been betrothed to the bride, burst in,
demanding her for his own. In vain, Cepheus remonstrated that
all such engagements had been dissolved by the sentence of death
passed upon Andromeda, and that if Phineus had actually loved
the girl, he would have tried to rescue her. Phineus and his adher-
ents, persisting in their intent, attacked the wedding party and
would have broken it up with most admired disorder, but
Mid the fabled Libyan bridal stood
Perseus in stem tranquillity of wrath,
Half stood, half floated on his ankle plumes
Out-swelling, while the bright face on his shield
Looked into stone the raging fray.^
Leaving Phineus and his fellows in merited petrifaction, and con-
veying Andromeda to Seriphus, the hero there turned into stone
Polydectes and his court, because the tyrant had rendered Danae's life
intolerable with his attentions. Perseus then restored to their owners
the charmed helmet, the winged shoes, and the pouch in which he
had conveyed the Gorgon's head. The head itself he bestowed upon
Minerva, who bore it afterward upon her aegis or shield. Of that
Gorgon shield no simpler moral interpretation can be framed than
the following :
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,
Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,
But rigid looks of chaste austerity,
And noble grace that dashed brute violence
With sudden adoration and blank awe ! '
1 Milman, Samor. ^ 'MLWlon, Cotqma.
214 ^^^ CLASSIC MYTHS
With his mother and his wife Perseus returned to Argos to seek
his grandfather. But Acrisius, still fearing his doom, had retired
to Larissa in Thessaly. Thither Perseus followed him, and found
him presiding over certain funeral games. As luck would have it,
the hero took part in the quoit throwing, and hurled a quoit far
beyond the mark. The disk, falling upon his grandfather's foot,
brought about the old man's death, and in that way the prophecy
was fulfilled. Of Perseus and Andromeda three sons were bom,
through one of whom, Electryon, they became grandparents of the
famous Alcmene, sweetheart of Jove and mother of Hercules.
155. 'Bellerophon and the Chimaera.^ The horse Pegasus, which
sprang from the Gorgon's blood, found a master in Bellerophon of
Corinth. This youth was of the Hellenic branch of the Greek
nation, being descended from Sisyphus and through him from
iEolus, the son of Hellen.^ His adventures should therefore be
recited with those of Jason and other descendants of -^olus in the
next chapter, but that they follow so closely on those of Perseus.
His father, Glaucus, king of Corinth, is frequently identified with
Glaucus the fisherman. This Glaucus of Corinth was noted for his
love of horse racing, his fashion of feeding his mares on human
flesh, and his destruction by the fury of his horses ; for having
upset his chariot, they tore their master to pieces. As to his son,
Bellerophon, the following is related :
In Lycia a monster, breathing fire, made great havoc. The
fore part of his body was a compound of the lion and the goat ;
the hind part was a dragon's. The king, lobates, sought a hero to
destroy this Chimaera, as it was called. At that time Bellerophon
arrived at his court. The gallant youth brought letters from
Proetus, the son-in-law of lobates, recommending Bellerophon in
the warmest terms as an unconquerable hero, but adding a request
to his father-in-law to put him to death. For Proetus, suspecting
that his wife Antea looked with too great favor on the young
warrior, schemed thus to destory him.
lobates accordingly determined to send Bellerophon against
the Chimaera. Bellerophon accepted the proposal, but before
1 Iliad, 6, 155-202 ; Apollodorus, i, 9i § 3 ; Horace, Odet, 4 ; 11 ; 26.
s See Commentaxy, §§ 103, 155.
OLDER HEROES : HOUSE OF DANAUS, ETC.
215
proceeding to the coml^t, consulted the soothsayer Polyidus, who
counseled him to procure, if possible, the horse Pegasus for the
conflict. Now this horse had been caught and tamed by Minerva
and by her presented to the Muses. Polyidus, therefore, directed
Bellerophon to pass the night in the temple of Minerva. While he
slept, Minerva brought him a golden bridle. When he awoke, she
showed him Pegasus drinking at the well of Pirene. At sight of the
bridle, the winged steed came
willingly and suffered him-
self to be taken. Bellerophon
mounted him, sped through
the air, found the Chimasra,
and gained an easy victoiy.
After the conquest of this
monster, Bellerophon was sub-
jected to further trials and
labors by his unfriendly host,
but by the aid of Pegasus he
triumphed over all. At length
lobates, seeing that the hero
was beloved of the gods, gave
him his daughter in marriage
and made him his successor
on the throne. It is said that
Bellerophon, by his pride and
presumption, drew upon himself
the anger of the Olympians;
that he even attempted to fly
to heaven on his winged steed ;
but the king of gods and men sent a gadfly, which, stinging Pegasus,
caused him to throw his rider, who wandered ever after lame, blind,
and lonely through the Aleian field, and perished miserably.
156. Hercules (Heracles) : His Youth.^ Alcmene, daughter of
Electryon and granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda, was
4.i
Authorities an
372 ; Seneca, -
Homer,— Iliad and Odyssey; Theocritus 24; 25, t
es, Women of Tiachis ; Euripides, Hercules Fuiei
Hercules Furens and (Etaus ; Hypnus, etc
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
beloved of Jupiter. Their son, the mighty Hercules, bom in
Thebes, became the national hero of Greece. Juno, always hostile
to the offspring of her husband by mortal mothers, declared war
against Hercules from his birth. She sent two serpents to destroy
him as he lay in his cradle, but the precocious infant strangled
them with his hands. In his youth he passed for the son of his step-
father Amphitryon, king of Thebes, grandson of Perseus and
Andromeda, and son of Alcasus, Hence his patronymic, Alcides.
Rhadamanthus trained him in wisdom and virtue, Linus in music.
Unfortunately the latter attempted one day to chastise Hercules;
whereupon the pupil killed the master with a lute. After this mel-
Iancholy breach of discipline, the youth was rusticated, — sent off to
the mountains, where among the herdsmen and the cattle he grew
to mighty stature, slew the Thespian lion, and performed various
deeds of valor. To him, while still a youth, appeared, according to
one story, two women at a meeting of the ways, — Pleasure and
Duty. The gifts offered by Duty were the " Choice of Hercules."
Soon afterward he contended with none other than Apollo for the
tripod of Delphi ; but reconciliation was effected between the com-
batants by the gods of Olympus, and from that day forth Apollo
and Hercules remained true friends, each respecting the prowess
of the other. Returning to Thebes, the hero aided his half brother
Iphicles and his reputed father Amphitryon in throwing off the
»yoke of the city of Orchomenus, and was rewarded with the hand
of the princess Megara. A few years later, while in the very pride
of his manhood, he was driven insane by the implacable Juno. In
his madness he slew his children, and would have slain Amphit^
ryon, also, had not Minerva knocked him over with a stone and
plunged him into a deep sleep, from which he awoke in his right
mind. Next, for expiation of the bloodshed, he was rendered sub-
ject to his cousin Eurystheus and compelled to perform his com-
mands. This humiliation, Juno, of course, had decreed.
157. His Labors. Eurystheus enjoined upon the hero a succes-
sion of desperate undertakings, which are called the twelve " Labors
of Hercules." The first was the combat with the Hon that infested
the valley of Nemea, the skin of which Hercules was ordered
to bring to Mycenae. After using in vain his dub and arrows
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAOS, ETC.
217
against the Hon, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands
and returned, carrying its carcass on his shoulders ; but Eurys-
theus, frightened at the sight and at this proof of the prodigious
strength of the hero, ordered him to deliver the account of his
exploits, in future, out-
"*\ side the town.
His second labor
was the slaughter of
the Hydra, a watei
serpent that ravaged
the country of Argos
and dwelt in a swamp
near the we!l of Amy-
mone. It had nine
heads, of which the
Ki., 1" II.. 1. I.. 1 I. I'll .NiMiAN Lion middle one was im-
mortal. Hercules stmck
off the heads with his club; but in the place of each dispatched,
two new ones appeared. At last, with the assistance of his faithful
nephew lolaijs, he burned away the other heads of the Hydra and
buried the ninth, which was immortal, under a rocE.
His third labor was the capture of a boar that haunted Mount
Erymanthus in Arcadia. The adventure was, in itself, successful.
But on the same jour-
ley Hercules made the
jiendship of the cen-
Pholus, who, re-
eiving him hospitably,
loured out for him
' without stint the choic-
est wine that the cen-
taurs possessed, As a
Consequence, Hercules
became involved in a
broil with the other centaurs of the mountain. Unfortunately hia
friend Pholus, drawing one of the arrows of Hercules from a brother
centaur, wounded himself therewith and died ai ft^c^v^KiW,
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The fourth labor of Hercules was the capture of a wonderful
stag of golden antlers and brazen hoofs, that ranged the hills of
Cerynea, between Arcadia and Achaia.
His fifth labor was the destruction of the Stymphalian birds,
which with cruel beaks and sharp talons harassed the inhabitants
of the valley of Stymphalus, devouring many of them.
His sixth labor was the cleaning of the Augean stables. Augeas,
king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not
been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules, bringing the rivers Alpheiis
and Peneiis through them, purified them thoroughly in one day.
g^
His seventh labor was the overthrow of the Cretan bull, —an awful
but beautiful brute, at once a gift and a curse bestowed by Neptune
upon Minos of Crete.^ This monster Hercules brought to Mycenas,
His eighth labor was the removal of the horses of Diomedes,
king of Thrace. These horses subsisted on human flesh, were
swift and fearful. Diomedes, attempting to retain them, was killed
by Hercules and given to the horses to devour. They were then
delivered to Eurystheus ; but, escaping, they roamed the hills of
Arcadia, till the wild beasts of Apollo tore them to pieces.
His ninth labor was of a more delicate character. Admeta, the
daughter of Eurystheus, desired the girdle of the queen of the
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAUS, ETC. 219
Amazons, and Eurystheus ordered Hercules to get it. The Ama-
zons were a nation dominated by warlike womeh, and in their
hands were many cities. It was their custom to bring up only the
female children, whom they hardened by martial discipline ; the
boys were either dispatched to the neighboring nations or put to
death, Hippolyta, the queen, received Hercules kindly and con-
sented to yield him the girdle ; but Juno, taking the form of an
Amazon, persuaded the people that the strangers were carrying off
their queen. They instantly
armed and beset the ship
Whereupon Hercules, fhmk
ing that Hippolyta had acted
treacherously, slew her and,
taking her girdle, made sail
homeward.
The tenth task enjoined
upon him was to capture
for Eurystheus the oxen
of Geryon, 3 monster with
three bodies, who dwelt m
the island Eiythea (the
red), — so called because
it lay in the west, under
the rays of the setting sun
This description is thought
to apply to Spain, of which Geryon was king After traversing
various countries, Hercules reached at length the frontiers of
Libya and Europe, where he raised the two mountains of Abyla
and Calpe as monuments of his progress,- — the Pillars of Her-
cules ; or, according to another account, rent one mountain into
two and left half on each side, forming the Strait of Gibraltar.
The oxen were guarded by the giant Eurytion and his two-headed
dog, but Hercules killed the warders and conveyed the oxen in
safety to Eury.stheus.
One of the most difficult labors was the eleventh, — the robbery
of the golden apples of the Hesperides. Hercules did not know
where to find them ; but after various adventoces, a\vw«A ■a-V'^-acffiS-
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
220
Atlas in Africa, Since Atlas was the father of the Hesperides,
Hercules thought he might through him obtain the apples. The
hero, accordingly, taking the burden of the heavens on his own
shoulders,' sent Atlas to seek the apples. The giant returned with
them and proposed to take them himself to Eurystheus. " Even
so," said Hercules ; "but, pray, hold this load for me a moment,
while I procure a pad to ease my shoulders," Unsuspectingly the
giant resumed the burden of the heavens. Hercules took the
apples.
His twelfth exploit was to fetch Cerberus from the lower world.
To this end he descended into Hades, accompanied by Mercury
and Minerva. There
he obtained permission
from Pluto to carry
Cerberus to the upper
air, provided he could
do it without the use
of weapons. In spite
of the monster's strug-
gling he seized him,
held him fast, carried
him to Eurystheus, and
afterward restored him
to the lower regions. While in Hades, Hercules also obtained
the liberty of Theseus, his admirer and imitator, who had been
detained there for an attempt at abducting Proserpine.^
After his return from Hades to his native Thebes, he re-
nounced his wife Megara, for, having slain his children by her i
his fit of madness, he looked upon the marriag'; as displeasing to
the gods.
Two other exploits not recorded among the tweUe labors are
the victories over Antseus and Cacus. AnttCus, the son of Poseidon.
and G^a, was a giant and wrestler whose strength was invincible
so long as he remained in contact with his mother Earth. He
compelled all strangers who came to his country to wrestle with
him, on condition that if conquered, they should suffer death.
> AlJai and the heavena, § i;3. ' { iSo,
I
I
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAOS, ETC. 221
Hercules encountered him and, finding that it was of no avail
to throw him, — for he always rose with renewed strength from
every fall, — lifted him up from the earth and strangled him in
the air.
Later writers tell of an army of Pygmies which, finding Her-
cules asleep after his defeat of Antaeus, made preparations to
attack him, as if they were about to attaclc a city. But the hero,
awakening, laughed at the little warriors, wrapped some of theni
up in his lion's skin, and carried them to Eurystheus.
Cacus was a giant who inhabited a cave on Mount Aventine
and plundered the surrounding country. When Hercules was driv-
ing home the oxen of Geiyon, Cacus stole part of the cattle while
the hero slept. That their footprints might not indicate where
they had been driven,
he draped them back-
ward by their tails to
his cave. Hercules
was deceived by the
stratagem and would
have failed to find his
oxen, had it not hap-
pened that while he was
■'f™^ ?";™""''f "-■ ■■»■ H..«t.. ,
of the herd past the
cave where the stolen ones were concealed, those within, beginning to
low, discovered themselves to him. Hercules promptly dispatched
the thief.
Through most of these expeditions Hercules was attended by
lolaiis, his devoted friend, the son of his half brother Iphicles.
158. His Later Exploits. On the later exploits of the hero we
can dwell but briefly. Having, in a fit of madness, killed his friend
Iphitus, he was condemned for the offense to spend three years as
the slave of Queen Omphale, He lived effeminately, wearing at
times the dress of a woman and spinning wool with the hand-
maidens of Omphale, while the queen wore his lion's skin. But
during this period he contrived to engage in about as many adven-
tures as would fill the life of an ordinary Iveto. tt.^ xea^isSi.
222 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Daphnis from Lityerses and threw the bloodthirsty king^ into the
river Maeander ; he discovered the body of Icarus ^ and buried it ;
he joined the company of Argonauts, who were on their way to
Colchis to secure the golden fleece, and he captured the thievish
gnomes, called Cercopes. Two of these grotesque rascals had
made off with the weapons of Hercules while he was sleeping.
When he had caught them he strapped them, knees upward, to a
yoke and so bore them away. Their drollery, however, regained
them their liberty. It is said that some of them having once
deceived Jupiter were changed to apes.
159. The Loss of Hylas.^ In the Argonautic adventure Her-
cules was attended by a lad, Hylas, whom he tenderly loved and
on whose account he deserted the expedition in Mysia ; for Hylas
had been stolen by the Naiads.
. . . Never was Heracles apart from Hylas, not when midnoon was high in
heaven, not when Dawn with her white horses speeds upwards to the dwelling
of Zeus, not when the twittering nestlings look towards the perch, while their
mother flaps her wings above the smoke-browned beam ; and all this that the
lad might be fashioned to his mind, and might drive a straight furrow, and
come to the true measure of man. . . .
And Hylas of the yellow hair, with a vessel of bronze in his hand, went to
draw water against supper-time for Heracles himself and the steadfast Telamon,
for these comrades twain supped ever at one table. Soon was he ware of a
spring in a hollow land, and the rushes grew thickly round it, and dark swallow-
wort, and green maidenhair, and blooming parsley, and deer grass spreading
through the marshy land. In the midst of the water the nymphs were arranging
their dances, — the sleepless nymphs, dread goddesses of the country people,
Eunice, and Malis, and Nycheia, with her April eyes. And now the boy was
holding out the wide-mouthed pitcher to the water, intent on dipping it ; but the
nymphs all clung to his hand, for love of the Argive lad had fluttered the soft
hearts of all of them. Then down he sank into the black water, headlong all,
as when a star shoots flaming from the sky, plumb in the deep it falls ; and a
mate shouts out to the seamen, " Up with the gear, my lads, the wind is fair
for sailing."
Then the nymphs held the weeping boy on their laps, and with gentle words
were striving to comfort him. But the son of Amphitryon was troubled about the
lad, and went forth, carrying his bended bow in Scythian fashion, and the club
that is ever grasped in his right hand. Thrice he shouted, " Hylas ! " as loud as
J/ ibo. ^h^ll ' Theocritus, Idyl XIII (Lang's translation).
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAUS, ETC. 223
his deep throat could call, and thrice again the boy heard him, and thrice came
his voice from the water, and, hard by though he was, he seemed very far away.
And as when a bearded lion, a ravening lion on the hills, hears the bleating of
a fawn afar off and rushes forth from his lair to seize it, his readiest meal, even
so the mighty Heracles, in longing for the lad, sped through the trackless briars
and ranged over much country.
Reckless are lovers: great toils did Heracles bear, in hills and thickets
wandering ; and Jason's quest was all postponed to this. . . .
Thus loveliest Hylas is numbered with the Blessed ; but for a runaway they
girded at Heracles — the heroes — because he roamed from Argo of the sixty
oarsmen. But on foot he came to Colchis and inhospitable Phasis.
160. The Rescue of Daphnis.^ Daphnis was the ideal Sicilian
shepherd and to him was ascribed the invention of pastoral story
and song. His father was Hermes (Mercury) ; his mother, a
nymph who laid him when an infant in a charming valley in a
laurel grove from which he received his name,^ and on account of
which Apollo loved him and endowed him with the gift of idyllic
verse. He was brought up by nymphs and shepherds, and, avoiding
the noisy haunts of men, he tended his flocks on Mount iEtna,
winter and summer. He loved a maiden named Piplea, but she
was borne away by robbers. He followed them to Phrygia, and
there found his sweetheart in the power of the king of that realm,
Lityerses. This Lityerses had a pleasant custom of making stran-
gers try a contest with him in reaping corn. If he overcame them,
he cut off their heads in the evening and concealed their bodies in
the sheaves, singing a comfortable song meanwhile. In order to
win back Piplea, Daphnis entered upon the reaping contest with
the king and made himself comfortable, too, by singing a harvest
song meanwhile. But Lityerses surpassed him at the work and
was about to put him to death, singing no doubt a comfortable
song of the reaper. Death, meanwhile, — when suddenly Hercules
appeared upon the scene. He does n't seem to have spent much
time singing : he assured Daphnis of his head by cutting off that
of the pleasant king ; and then he threw the body into the river
Maeander. Daphnis regained his Piplea and one would suppose
that they lived happy ever after. Another story, unfortunately,
1 Theocritus, Idyl X, 41, and the Scholia; Virgil, Bucol. 5 ; 8 ; 10; and Comments.
2 See the stoiy of Daphne.
224 ^^^ CLASSIC MYTHS
relates events in which Piplea's name does not occur. A Naiad
fell in love with the handsome shepherd and made him promise
eternal fidelity to her, threatening him with blindness if he violated
his vow. It was hard for poor Daphnis, for nearly every lass he
met made love to him. At last a princess intoxicated him and
he forgot his vow. Immediately the Naiad showed the quality of
her love by striking him blind. He consoled himself for a while
by singing his songs and playing the flute as he wandered from
place to place. Then weary, he called on his father for aid. Mer-
cury accordingly transported him to heaven and caused a well to
gush forth on the spot from which he ascended. Here the Sicil-
ians offered yearly sacrifice in his honor.
Theocritus gives us a Lityerses song as he undoubtedly used to
hear it sung by the harvesters of the countryside in Sicily : ^
Demeter, rich in fruit and rich in grain, may this corn be easy to win and
fruitful exceedingly !
Bind, ye binders, the sheaves, lest the wayfarer should cry, " Men of straw
were the workers here ; aye, and their hire was wasted ! "
See that the cut stubble faces the North wind, or the West ; — 't is thus that
the grain waxes richest.
They that thresh com should shun the noonday sleep ; at noon the chaff
parts easiest from the straw.
As for the reapers, let them begin when the crested lark is waking, and cease
when he sleeps, but take holiday in the heat.
Lads, the frog has a jolly life : he is not cumbered about a butler to his
drink ; for he has liquor by him unstinted !
Boil the lentils better, thou miserly steward ; take heed lest thou chop thy
fingers, when thou 'rt splitting cummin seed.
When Matthew Arnold is writing of the death of his dear friend,
the poet, Arthur Hugh Clough, who died in Italy,^ he says :
And now in happier air,
Wandering with the great Mother's train divine . . .
Within a folding of the Apennine,
Thou hearest the immortal chants of old !
Putting his sickle to the perilous grain
In the hot cornfield of the Phrygian king,
J Theocritus. Idyl X (Lang's translation). a Thyrsis.
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAUS, ETC. 225
For thee the Lityerses song again
Young Daphnis with his silver voice doth sing ;
Sings his Sicilian fold,
His sheep, his hapless love, his blinded eyes : —
And how a call celestial round him rang,
And heavenward from the fountain-brink he sprang, —
And all the marvel of the golden skies !
161. The Expedition against Laomedon. After his servitude
under Omphale was ended, Hercules sailed with eighteen ships
against Troy. For Laomedon, king of that realm, had refused to
give Hercules the horses of Neptune, which he had promised in
gratitude for the rescue of his daughter Hesione from the sea-
monster.i The hero, overcoming Troy, placed a son of Laomedon,
Priam, upon the throne, and gave Hesione to Telamon, who, with
Peleus, Olcles, and other Greek heroes, had accompanied him.
Also worthy of mention among the exploits of Hercules were his
successful expeditions against Pylos and Sparta, his victory over
the giants, his struggle with Death for the body and life of
Alcestis,^ and his delivery, according to prophecy, of Prometheus,
who until that time had remained in chains upon the Caucasian
Mountains.^
162. The Death of Hercules. Finally, the hero married Dejanira,
daughter of OEneus of Calydon and sister of Meleager of the
Calydonian hunt. With her he lived three prosperous years. But
on one occasion, as they journeyed together, they came to a river
across which the centaur Nessus carried travelers for a stated fee.
Hercules proceeded to ford the river and gave Dejanira to Nessus
to be carried across. Nessus, however, attempted to make off with
her ; whereupon Hercules, hearing her cries, shot an arrow into his
heart. The centaur, as he died, bade Dejanira take a portion of his
blood and keep it, saying that it might be used as a charm to pre-
serve the love of her husband. Dejanira did so. Before long,
jealous of Hercules* fondness for lole of GEchalia, a captive maiden,
she steeped a sacrificial robe of her husband's in the blood of
Nessus. As soon as the garment became warm on the body of
Hercules, the poison penetrated his limbs. In his frenzy he seized
i§"9- ^§83- •^n-
226 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
LJchas, who had brought him the fatal robe, and hurled him into
the sea ; then tried to wrench off the gannent, but it stuck to his
flesh and tore away whole pieces of his body.
Fig. tt<). Mebculh and Nbssus
Alddes, from CEchalia crowned
With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and lore,
Through pain, up by the roots Theasalian pines,
And Lichas from the top of CEta threw
Into the Euboic Sea.'
1 Milton.
OLDER HEROES: HOUSE OF DANAUS, ETC. 227
In this state he embarked on board a ship and was conveyed home.
Dejanira, on seeing what she had unwittingly done, hanged herself.
Hercules, prepared to die, ascended Mount CEta, where he built a
funeral pile of trees, gave his bow and arrows to Philoctetes,^ and
laid himself upon the pile, his head resting on his club and his
lion's skin spread over him. With a countenance as serene as if
he were taking his place at a festal board, he commanded Philoc-
tetes to apply the torch. The flames spread apace, and soon in-
vested the whole mass.^
The gods themselves grieved to see the champion of the earth
so brought to his end. But Jupiter took care that only his mother's
part in him should perish by the flames. The immortal element,
derived from Jupiter himself, was translated to heaven ; and by
the consent of the gods — even of reluctant Juno — Hercules was
admitted as a deity to the ranks of the immortals. The white-
armed queen of heaven was finally reconciled to the offspring of
Alcmene. She adopted him for her son and gave him in marriage
her daughter Hebe.
Deep degraded to a coward's slave,
Endless contests bore Alcides brave,
Through the thorny path of suffering led ;
Slew the Hydra, crushed the lion's might,
Threw himself, to bring his friend to light,
Living, in the skiff that bears the dead.
All the torments, every toil of earth,
Juno's hatred on him could impose.
Well he bore them, from his fated birth
To life's grandly mournful close.
Till the god, the earthly part forsaken.
From the man in flames asunder taken,
Drank the heavenly ether's purer breath.
Joyous in the new unwonted lightness,
Soared he upwards to celestial brightness.
Earth's dark heavy burden lost in death.
High Olympus gives harmonious greeting
I See ^ 220. According to Sophocles, Philoctetes' father Poeas applied the torch.
' See the spirited poems, Deianeira and Merakles, in the classical, but too little read,
£pic of Hades, by Lewis Morris.
228 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
To the hall where reigns his sire adored ;
Youth's bright goddess, with a blush at meeting,
Gives the nectar to her lord.^
In the tragedy called The Maidens of Trachis, Sophocles de-
scribes this hero as " The noblest man of all the earth, of whom
thou ne'er shalt see the like again/* To some of us the manner
of his earthly end may seem* unworthy ; but the Greek poets teach
that, in the unabated vigor of one's powers, serenely to meet and
accept one's doom is the happiest death. This view is well ex-
pressed by Matthew Arnold in the following fragment of a Greek
chorus sung with reference to the death of Hercules :
O frivolous mind of man,
Light ignorance, and hurrying, unsure thoughts !
Though man bewails you not.
How / bewail you ! . . .
For you will not put on
New hearts with the inquirer's holy robe.
And purged, considerate minds.
And him on whom, at the end
Of toil and dolor untold.
The Gods have said that repose
At last shall descend undisturb'd —
Him you expect to behold
In an easy old age, in a happy home;
No end but this you praise.
But him, on whom, in the prime
Of life, with vigor undimm'd.
With unspent mind, and a soul
Unworn, undebased, undecay'd.
Mournfully grating, the gates
Of the city of death have forever closed —
Him^ I count him^ well-starr'd.*
Here we take leave for a time of the descendants of Inachus.
We shall revert to them in the stories of Minos of Crete and of
the house of Labdacus.
1 Schiller's Ideal and IJfe. Translated by S. G. Bulfinch, brother of Thomas Bulfinch.
^From Fragment of Chorus of a " Dejaneira."
Fig. 130. The Building of the Argo
CHAPTER XV
THE FAMILY OF ^OLUS
163. Descendants of Deucalion. Athamas, brother of Sisyphus,
was descended from ./Eolus, whose father, Hellen, was the son of
Deucalion of Thessaly. Athamas had by his wife Nephele two
children, Phrixus and Helle. After a time, growing indifferent to
his wife, Athamas put her away and took I no, the daughter of
Cadmus. The unfortunate sequel of this second marriage we have
already seen.^
Nephele, apprehending danger to her children from the influ-
ence of their stepmother, took measures to put them out of her
reach. Mercury gave her a ram with a golden fleece, on which she
set the two children. Vaulting into the air, the animal took his
course to the east ; but when he was crossing the strait that divides
Europe and Asia, the girl Helle fell from his back into the sea,
which from her was afterward called the Hellespont- — now the
Dardanelles. The ram safely landed the boy Phrixus in Colchis,
15144.
230 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
where he was hospitably received by ^Eetes, the king of that coun-
try. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Jupiter, but the fleece he gave
to JEetes, who placed it in a consecrated grove under the care of
a sleepless dragon.^
164. The Quest of the Golden Fleece.^ Another realm in Thes-
saly, near to that of Athamas, was ruled over by his nephew ^Eson.
iEson, although he had a son Jason, surrendered the crown to a
half brother, Pelias,^ on condition that he should hold it only dur-
ing the minority, of the lad. This young Jason was, by the way, a
second cousin of Bellerophon and of the Atalanta who ran against
Hippomenes, and a first cousin of Admetus, the husband of Alcestis.*
When, however, Jason, being grown up, came to demand the crown,
his uncle Pelias with wily intent suggested to him the glorious
quest of the golden fleece. Jason, pleased with the thought, forth-
with made preparations for the expedition. At that time the only
species of navigation known to the Greeks consisted of small boats
or canoes hollowed out from trunks of trees; when, accordingly,
Jason employed Argus to build a vessel capable of containing fifty
men, it was considered a gigantic undertaking. The vessel was
named Arg-o, probably after its builder. Jason soon found himself
at the head of a bold band of comrades, many of whom afterward
were renowned among the heroes and demigods of Greece.
From every region of JEgesi's shore
The brave assembled ; those illustrious twins
Castor and Pollux ; Orpheus, tuneful bard ;
Zetes and Calais, as the wind in speed ;
Strong Hercules and many a chief renowned.
On deep lolcos' sandy shore they thronged,
Gleaming in armor, ardent of exploits, —
And soon, the laurel cord and the huge stone
Uplifting to the deck, unmoored the bark ;
Whose keel of wondrous length the skillful hand
Of Argus fashioned for the proud attempt ;
And in the extended keel a lofty mast
Upraised, and sails full swelling ; to the chiefs
Unwonted objects. Now first, now they learned
1 Apollodonis, I, 9, § i ; Apollonius Rhodius, i, 927.
2 Ovid, Metam. 6, 667 ; 7, 143. The Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes.
*See § 120, * See Table G, Commentary, § 103.
THE FAMILY OF ^OLUS 231
Their bolder steerage over ocean wave,
Led by the golden stars, as Chiron's art
Had marked the sphere celestial.'
Theseus, Meleager, Peleus, and Nestor were also among these
Argonauts, or sailors of the Ar^<j. The ship with her crew of
heroes left the shores of Thessaly, and touching at the island of
Lemnos, thence crossed to Mysia and thence to Thrace, Here
they found the sage Phineus, who instructed the Argonauts how
they might pass the Symplegades, or Clashing Islands, at the
entrance of the Euxine Sea. When they reached these islands
they, accordingly, let go a dove, which took her way between the
Fig. 131. J,
rocks and passed in safety, only losing some feathers of her tail.
Jason and his men, seizing the favorable moment of the rebound,
plied their oars with vigor and passed safe through, though the
islands dosed behind them and actually grazed the stem of the ves-
sel. They then rowed along the shore til! they arrived at the eastern
end of the sea, and so landed in the kingdom of Colchis,
Jason made known his message to the Colchian king, ^Eetes,
who consented to give up the golden fleece on certain conditions,
namely, that Jason should yoke to the plow two fire-breathing
bulls with brazen feet, and that he then should sow the teeth of
the dragon that Cadmus had slain, Jason, although it was well
known that a crop of armed men would spring up from the teeth,
destined to turn their weapons against their producer, accepted
the conditions, and a time was set for the undertaking. The hero,
1 Dyer, The Fleece.
2 32 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
however, wisely spent the interval in wooing Medea, the daughter
of JEetes ; and with such success that they plighted troth before
the altar of Hecate. The princess then furnished her hero with a
charm which should aid him in the contest to come.
Accordingly, when the momentous day was arrived, Jason with
calmness encountered the fire-breathing monsters and speedily
yoked them to the plow. The Colchians stood in amazement;
the Greeks shouted for joy. Next, the hero proceeded to sow the
dragon's teeth and plow them in. Up sprang, according to pre-
diction, the crop of armed men, brandished aloft their weapons,
and rushed upon Jason. The Greeks trembled for their hero.
Medea herself grew pale with fear. The hero himself for a time,
with sword and shield, kept his assailants at bay ; but he surely
would have been overwhelmed by the numbers, had he not resorted
to a charm which Medea had taught him : seizing a stone, he threw
it in the midst of his foes. Immediately they turned their arms
against one another, and soon there was not one of the dragon's
brood alive.
It remained only to lull to sleep the dragon that guarded the
fleece. This was done by scattering over him a few drops of a
preparation which, again, Medea had supplied. Jason then seized
the fleece, and, with his friends and his sweetheart accompan)dng,
hastened to the vessel. It is said that, in order to delay the pur-
suit of her father ^Eetes, Medea tor« to pieces her young brother
Absyrtus and strewed fragments of him along the line of their
flight. The ruse succeeded.
165. The Return of the Argonauts. On their way home the
Argonauts beat a devious course, sailing after other dangers had
been overcome, by the island that the Sirens infested. And here
the heroes would have hung their halsers and remained, had not
Orpheus vanquished the seductive strains of the sea-muses with his
own more melodious and persuasive song.^
Oh, happy seafarers are ye
And surely all your ills are past,
And toil upon the land and sea,
Since ye are brought to us at last ;
1 William Morris, Life and Death of Jason.
THE FAMILY OF ^OLUS 233
chanted the Sirens, promising long rest and the kingdoms of sleep.
But now, but now, when ye have lain
Asleep with u$ a little while
Beneath the washing of the main,
How calm shall be your waking smile !
Then Orpheus replied, encouraging his men :
A little more, a little more,
O carriers of the Golden Fleece !
A little labor with the oar,
Before we reach the land of Greece.
E'en now, perchance, faint rumors reach
Men's ears of this our victory.
And draw them down upon the beach
To gaze across the empty sea.
Again the Sirens :
Alas ! and will ye stop your ears.
In vain desire to do aught,
And wish to live 'mid cares and fears,
Until the last fear makes you nought?
But Orpheus, reminding the rowers of home and love and joy :
Is not the May-time now on earth.
When close against the city wall
The folks are singing in their mirth,
While on their heads the May flowers fall?
carried them past triumphant.
The Argonauts arrived safe in Thessaly. Jason delivered the
fleece to Pelias, and dedicated the Argo to Neptune.
166. Medea and ^son.^ Medea's career as a sorceress was, by
no means, completed. At Jason's request she undertook next to
restore his aged father ^Eson to the vigor of youth. To the full
moon she addressed her incantations, to the stars, to Hecate, to
Tellus, the goddess of the earth. In a chariot borne aloft by
dragons she traversed the fields of air to regions where flourished
potent plants, which only she knew how to select. Nine nights
1 Ovid, Metam. 7, 143-293.
'234
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
f
^H she employed in her search, and during that period shunned all
^H intercourse with mortals.
^H Next she erected two altars, the one to Hecate, the other to
^H Hebe, and sacrificed a black sheep, — pouring libations of milk
^H and wine. She implored Pluto and his stolen bride to spare the
old man's life. Then she directed that ^son be led forth ; and
throwing him into a deep sleep, she laid him
on a bed of herbs, like one dead. No eye pro-
fane looked upon her mysteries. With stream-
ing hair thrice she moved round the altars,
dipped flaming twigs in the blood, and laid
them thereon to bum. Meanwhile, the caldron
with its contents was preparing. In it she put
magic herbs, with seeds and flowers of acrid
juice, stones from the distant East, and sand
from the shore of all-surrounding ocean, hoar-
frost gathered by moonlight, a screech owl's
head and wings, and the entrails of a wolf.
She added fragments of the shells of tortoises
and the liver of stags — animals tenacious of
life — and the head and beak of a crow, which
outlives nine generations of men. These, with
many other things "without a name," she
boiled together for her purposed work, stirring
them with a dry olive branch. The branch,
when taken out, instantly was green and ere-
I' "■ long was covered with leaves and a plentiful
ic. 132. EUEA growth of young olives; and as the liquor
boiled and bubbled and sometimes bubbled over, the grass wher-
ever the sprinklings fell leaped into verdure like that of spring.
Seeing that all was ready, Medea cut the throat of the old man,
let out his blood, and poured into his mouth and his wound the
juices of her caldron. As soon as he had completely imbibed them,
his hair and beard lost their whiteness and assumed the color of
youth ; his paleness and emaciation were gone ; his veins were
full of blood, his limbs of vigor and robustness ; and /Eson, on
awakening, found himself forty years younger.
THE FAMILY OF .^OLUS
235
167. Pelias.' In another instance, Medea made her arts the
instrument of revenge. Pelias, the usurping uncle of Jason, still
kept him out of his heritage. But the daughters of Pelias wished
Medea to restore their father also to youth. Medea simulated
consent, but prepared her caldron for him in a new and sin-
gular way. She put in only water and a few simple herbs.
In the night she persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill him.
They at first hesitated to strike, but Medea chiding their irreso-
lution, they turned away
their faces and, giving
random blows, smote him
with their weapons. Start-
ing from his sleep, the
old man cried out, " My
daughters, would you kill
your father ? " Whereat
their hearts failed them,
and the weapons fell from
their hands. Medea, how-
ever, struck the fatal blow.
They placed him in the
caldron, but, as might be
expected, with no success,
Medea herself had taken
care to escape before they
discovered the treachery.
She had, however, little
profit of the fruits of her crime. Jason, for whom she had sacri-
ficed so much, put her away, for he wished to marry Creusa, prin-
cess of Corinth, Whereupon Medea, enraged at his ingratitude,
called on the gods for vengeance ; then, sending a poisoned robe
as a gift to the bride, killing her own children, and setting fire
to the palace, she mounted her serpent-drawn chariot and fled to
Athens, There she married King ^geus, the father of Theseus ;
and we shall meet her again when we come to the adventures of
that hero.^
33 Medea
1 Ovid, Meti
i^-vlf.
236 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The incantation of Medea readily suggests that of the witches
in Macbeth :
Round about the caldron go ;
In the poison'd entrails throw. —
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. . . ,
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the caldron boil and bake ;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting.
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, —
For a charm of powerful trouble
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. . 0 »
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf.
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark.
Root of hemlock digged i' the dark, o
Make the gruel thick and slab.^
1 Macbeth, IV, i. Consult
CHAPTER XVI
THE FAMILY OF ^TOLUS AND ITS CONNECTIONS
168. The Calydonian Hunt.^ One of the heroes of the Argo-
nautic expedition had been Meleager, a son of CEneus and Althaea,
rulers of Calydon in ^tolia. His parents were cousins, descended
from a son of Endymion named ^tolus, who had colonized that
realm. By ties of kinship and marriage they were allied with many
historic figures. Their daughter Dejanira had become, as we have
already noted, the wife of Hercules ; while Leda, the sister of
Althaea, was mother of Castor and Pollux,^ and of Clytemnestra
and Helen, intimately concerned in the Trojan War.
When her son Meleager was born. Althaea had beheld the three
Destinies, who, as they spun their fatal thread, foretold that the
life of the child should last no longer than a certain brand then
burning upon the hearth. Althaea seized and quenched the brand,
and carefully preserved it while Meleager grew to boyhood, youth,
and man's estate. It chanced, then, that CEneus, offering sacrifices
to the gods, omitted to pay due honors to Diana ; wherefore she,
indignant at the neglect, sent a boar of enormous size to lay waste
the fields of Calydon. Meleager called on the heroes of Greece
to join in a hunt for the ravenous monster. Theseus arid his friend
Pirithous,^ Jason, Peleus the father of Achilles, Telamon the father
of Ajax, Nestor, then a youth, but who in his age bore arms with
Achilles and Ajax in the Trojan War,^ — these and many more
joined in the enterprise. With them came, also, Atalanta, the
daughter of lasius, of the race of Callisto, —
Arcadian Atalanta, snowy-souled,
Fair as the snow and footed as the wind.''
1 Ovid, Metam. 8, 260-546. 25170. 8 § igo. ^ Chapter XX I.
6 From Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydow,
237
Hut there was no time then for love ; on to the hunt they
pushed. To the hunt went also Plexippus and Toxeus, brothers
of Queen Althiea, braggarts, envious of Meleager. Speedily the
hunters drew near the monster's lair. They stretched strong nets
from tree to tree ; they uncoupled their dogs ; they sought the
footprints of iheir quarry in the grass. From the wood was a.
descent to marshy ground. Here the boar, as he lay among the
reeds, heard the shouts of his pursuers and rushed forth against
' From Swinburne's Aulimta in CaJydon.
THE FAMILY OF ^TOLUS, ETC. 239
them. One and another is thrown down and slain. 'Jason, Nestor,
Telamon open the attack, but in vain.
. . . Then all abode save one,
The Arcadian Atalanta : from her side
Sprang her hounds, laboring at the leash, and slipped,
And plashed ear-deep with plunging feet ; but she
Sa3dng, " Speed it as I send it for thy sake.
Goddess," drew bow and loosed ; the sudden string
Rang, and sprang inward, and the waterish air
Hissed, and the moist plumes of the songless reeds
Moved as a wave which the wind moves no more.
But the boar heaved half out of ooze and slime.
His tense Rank trembling round the barbed wound.
Hateful ; and fiery with invasive eyes,
And bristling with intolerable hair.
Plunged, and the hounds clung, and green flowers and white
Reddened and broke all round them where they came.^
It was a slight wound, but Meleager saw and joyfully proclaimed
it. The attack was renewed. Peleus, Amphiaraiis, Theseus, Jason,
hurled their lances. Ancaeus was laid low by a mortal wound.
But Meleager, —
Rock-rooted, fair with fierce and fastened lips.
Clear eyes and springing muscle and shortening limb —
With chin aslant indrawn to a tightening throat.
Grave, and with gathered sinews, like a god, —
Aimed on the left side his well-handled spear.
Grasped where the ash was knottiest hewn, and smote.
And with no missile wound, the monstrous boar
Right in the hairiest hollow of his hide.
Under the last rib, sheer through bulk and bone,
Deep in ; and deeply smitten, and to death.
The heavy horror with his hanging shafts
Leapt, and fell furiously, and from raging lips
Foamed out the latest wrath of all his life.^
Then rose a shout from those around ; they glorified the con-
queror, — crowded to touch his hand. But he, placing his foot
upon the head of the slain boar, turned to Atalanta, and bestowed
1 From Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon.
240 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
on her tlie head and the rough hide — trophies of his sucx:ess.
Thereat she laughed —
Lit with a low blush to the braided hair,
And rose-colored and cold like very dawn,
Golden and godlike, chastely with chaste lips,
A faint grave laugh ; and all they held their peace,
And she passed by them. Then one cried, " Lo now.
Shall not the Arcadian shoot out lips at us,
Saying all we were despoiled by this one girl ? "
And all they rode against her violently
And cast the fresh crown from her hair, and now
They had rent her spoil away, dishonoring her.
Save that Meleager, as a tame lion chafed.
Bore on them, broke them, and as fire cleaves wood,
So clove and drove them, smitten in twain ; but she
Smote not nor heaved up hand ; and this man first,
Plexippus, crying out, " This for love's sake. Sweet,"
Drove at Meleager, who with spear straightening
Pierced his cheek through ; then Toxeus made for him.
Dumb, but his spear shake ; vain and violent words,
Fruitless ; for him, too, stricken through both sides
The earth felt falling. ...
. . . And these being slain.
None moved, nor spake.^
Of this fearful sequel to the hunt, Althaea has heard nothing.
As she bears thank offering to the temples for the victory of her
son, the bodies of her murdered brothers meet her sight. She
shrieks, and beats her breast, and hastens to change the garments
of joy for those of mourning. But when the author of the deed
is known, grief gives way to the stem desire of vengeance on
her son. The fatal brand, which the Destinies have linked with
Meleager's life, she brings forth. She commands a fire to be pre-
pared. Four times she essays to place the brand upon the pile ;
four times draws back, shuddering before the destruction of her
son. The feelings of the mother and the sister contend within
her. Now she is pale at the thought of the purposed deed, now
flushed again with anger at the violence of her offspring. Finally,
1 From Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon.
THE FAMILY OF ^TOLUS, ETC. 241
the sister prevails over the mother : -^ turning away her face, she
throws the fatal wood upon the burning pile. Meleager, absent
and unconscious of the cause, feels a sudden pang. He burns ;
he calls upon those whom he loves, Atalanta and his mother. But
speedily the brand is ashes, and the life of Meleager is breathed
forth to the wandering winds.
When at last the deed was done, the mother laid violent hands
upon herself.
169. Herope. A heroine connected by blood with Atalanta was
Merope,' daughter of liing Cypselus of Arcadia, and descended
from Areas, tfie son of Callisto and Jupiter. On account of her
Fig. 135. The Death of Meleager
relationship to Atalanta her story may be told here, though she is
not a member of the family of jEtolus, Her husiaand, Cresphontes
the Heraclid, king of Messenia, had been slain with two of his
sons by rebellious nobles ; and one Polyphontes, leader of the
revolt, reigned in his stead and took Merope to wife. But her
third son by Cresphontes, vEpytus, had been concealed by her in
Arcadia. Thence, in due season, he returned unknown to her,
with the purpose of wreaking vengeance on the murderers of his
sire. He pretended to have slain ^Epytus, and so as a stranger
won the favor of Polyphontes, but came near losing his life at his
mother's hands. A recognition being happily effected, ^pytus,
aided by his mother, put Polyphontes to death and took possession
of the kingdom. This story has been frequently dramatized, first
> Hygiiiu»,F«b.i84; ApoUodoros, z, 8 ; Pausaniia, z.iS-.^.lietr..-, A.™uiiiK,?Q«™a,-vv,S'
242 THE CLASSIC M\THS
by Euripides in a lost play called Cresphontes, and most recently
by Matthew Arnold, whose Merope is a masterpiece of classical
invention and of poetic execution.
170. Castor and PoUtix. Leda, the sister of Althaea and aunt of
Meleager, bore to T)'ndareus, king of Sparta, Castor and Qytem-
nestra. To Jove she bore Pollux and Helen. Pollux and Castor
— one, the son of a god and immortal, the other, of mortal breed
and destiny — are famous for their fraternal affection. Endowed
with various manly virtues, — Castor a horse-tamer, Pollux a boxer,
— they made all expeditions in common. Together they joined
the Calydonian hunt. Together they accompanied the Argonauts.
During the voyage to Colchis it is said that, a storm arising,
Orpheus prayed to the Samothracian gods and played on his harp,
and that when the storm ceased, sfars appeared on the heads of the
brothers. Hence they came to be honored as patrons of voyagers.
They rendered, indeed, noteworthy service to the Argonauts
returning from Colchis with Medea and the Golden Fleece. For
when the voyagers attempted a landing at Crete they were con-
fronted by the gigantic warder of the island. This was Talus, a
form of living brass, fashioned by Hephaestus (Vulcan) and pre-
sented to King Minos, about whose Cretan domain he made his
rounds three times a day. Ordinarily when Talus saw voyagers
Hearing the coast he fired himself red-hot and embraced them as
they landed. For some reason he did not welcome the Argonauts
in this warm fashion, but
Whirling with resistless sway
Rocks sheer uprent, repels them from the bay.^
Medea, objecting to the volley of stones, resorts to necromantic
spells :
Thrice she applies the power of magic prayer,
Thrice, hellward bending, mutters charms in air ;
Then, turning toward the foe, bids Mischief fly.
And looks Destruction as she points her eye.^
Maddened, as might be surmised, by so insidious and unaccus-
tomed a form of attack, the Man of Brass " tears up whole hills to
1 Apollonius Khodius, 4, 1629 (Broome's translation). See also Apollodorus, i ; 9, 26.
THE FAMILY OF ^TOLUS, ETC. 243
crush his foes "; then fleeing in sudden panic, he is overcome by
the stupor of the enchantment and taken captive by Castor and
Pollux. He had in his body only one vein, and that plugged on
the crown of his head with a nail. Medea drew out the stopper.
At a later period when Theseus and his friend Pirithous had
carried off Helen from Sparta, the youthful heroes. Castor and
Pollux, with their followers hasted to the rescue. Theseus being
absent from Attica, the brothers recovered their sister. Later still,
we find Castor and Pollux engaged in a combat with Idas and
Lynceus of Messene, some say over the daughters of Leucippus,
others, over a herd of oxen. Castor was slain ; but Pollux, incon-
solable for the loss of his brother, besought Jupiter to be permitted
to give his own life as a ransom for him. Jupiter so far consented
as to allow the two brothers to enjoy the boon of life alternately,
each spending one day under the earth and the next in the heav-
enly abodes. According to another version, Jupiter rewarded the
attachment of the brothers by placing them among the stars as
Gemini, the Twins. They received heroic honors as the Tyndarida
(sons of Tyndareus) ; divine honors they received under the name
of Dioscuri (sons of Jove).^
171. The Twin Brethren among the Romans. In Rome they
were honored with a temple in the Forum and made the patrons
of knighthood because of the assistance they rendered in the battle
of Lake Regillus. In the moment of dire distress they had appeared,
a princely pair :
So like they were, no mortal
Might one from other know ;
White as snow their armor was,
Their steeds were white as snow.
Never on earthly anvil
Did such rare armor gleam,
And never did such gallant steeds
Drink of an earthly stream.
And all who saw them trembled,
And pale grew every cheek ;
And Aulus the Dictator
Scarce gathered voice to speak :
1 Hyginus, Fab. 80; Ovid, Fasti, 100. Theocritus, Idyl XXII, §ive* ^ d>&^x«\\. n^x-^ss^
244 '^'^^ CLASSIC MYTHS
" Say by what name men call you ?
What city is your home?
And wherefore ride ye in such guise
Before the ranks of Rome ? "
"By many names," they answered, —
" By many names men call us ;
In many lands we dwell :
Well Samothracia knows us;
Cyrene knows us well ;
Our house in gay Tarentum
Is hung each mom with flowers;
High o'er the masts of Syracuse
Our marble portal towers ;
Hut by the brave Eurotas
Is our dear native home ;
And for the right we come to fight
Before the ranks of Rome."
After the battle was won they were
the first to bear the tidings to the city.
With joy the people acclaimed them, —
Hut on rode these strange horsemen,
With slow and lordly pace ;
And none who saw their bearing
Durst ask their name or race.
On rode they to the Forum,
While laurel boughs and flowers,
From housetops and from windows.
Fell on their crests in showers.
When they drew nigh to Vesta,
They vaulted down amain,
And washed (heir horses in the well
That springs by Vesta's fane.
And straight again they mounted,
And rode to \'esta's door;
Then, like a blast, away they passed.
And no man saw them more. . . .
And -Sergius the High Pontiff
Alone found voice to speak:
THE FAMILY OF «TOLUS, ETC.
" The gods who live forever
Have fought for Rome to-day !
These be the Great Twin Brethren
To whom the Dorians pray.
Back comes the chief in triumph
Who, in the hour of fight.
Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren
In harness on his right
Safe comes the ship to haven,
Through billows and through gales
Fig. 137 Castor and Pollux capturing the Giant Talus
(Right portion) ,
If once the Great Twin Brethren
Sit shining on the sails
Here hard by Vesta s temple
Build we a stately dome
Unto the Great Twin Brethren
Who fought so well for Rome ! " •
For many a year the procession, in which the knights, olive-
wreathed and purple-robed, inarched in honor of the Twin Brethren,
continued to be held ; and still there stand three columns of their
temple above the pool of Jutuma and Vesta's ruined shrine.
I Muaulay, Lays of Ancient Rom«, The Battle of Lake Reg.iU.'OK.
CHAPTER XVII
THE HOUSE OF MINOS
172. Minos of Crete was a descendant of Inachus in the sixth
generation. A son of Jupiter and Europa, he was, after death,
transferred, with his brother Rhadamanthus and with King ^acus,
to Hades, where the three became judges of the Shades. This is
the Minos mentioned by Homer and Hesiod, — the eminent law-
giver. Of his grandson, Minos II, it is related that when aiming
at the crown of Crete, he boasted of his power to obtain by prayer
whatever he desired, and as a test, he implored Neptune to send
him a bull for sacrifice. The bull appeared, but Minos, astonished
at its great beauty, declined to sacrifice the bi\ite. Neptune, there-
fore incensed, drove the bull wild, — worse still, drove Pasiphae,
the wife of Minos, wild with love of it. The wonderful brute was
finally caught and overcome by Hercules, who rode it through the
waves to Greece. But its offspring, the Minotaur, a monster bull-
headed and man-bodied, remained for many a day a terror to
Crete, till finally a famous artificer, Daedalus, constructed for
him a labyrinth, with passages and turnings winding in and about
like the river Maeander, so that whoever was inclosed in it might
by no means find his way out. The Minotaur, roaming therein,
lived upon human victims. For it is said that, after Minos had
subdued Megara,^ a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens
was sent every year from Athens to Crete to feed this monster ;
and it was not until the days of Theseus of Athens that an end
was put to both tribute and Minotaur .^
173. Daedalus and Icarus.^ Daedalus, who abetted the love
of Pasiphae for the Cretan bull, afterwards lost the favor of
1 § 143.
3 § 177. Apollodorus, 3, i, § 3 ; 15, § 8 ; Pausanias, i, 27, § 9, etc. ; Ovid, Metam. 7,456.
' Virgil, yEneid, 6, 14-36; Ovid, Metam. 8, 152-259; Hyginus, Fab. 40, 44.
246
THE HOUSE OF MINOS
247
Minos and was impnsoned by him Seeing no other way of
escape the artificer made out of feathers wmgs for his son
Icarus and himself which he fas
tened on with wax Then poising
themselves in the air they flew away
Icarus had been warned not to ap-
proach too near the sun and all went
well bll they had passed Samos and
Delos on the left and Lebjnthos on
the nght But then the boy exult
ing m his career soared upward
The blaze of the tomd sun softened
the waxen fastening of his wings.
Off they came, and down the lad
dropped into the sea which after him
is named Icarian, even to this day.
. , . With melting wax and loosened strings
Sunk hapless Icarus on unfaithful wings ;
Headlong he rushed through the affrighted air.
With limbs distorted and disheveled hair;
His scattered plumage danced upon the wave,
And sorrowing Nereids decked his watery grave;
O'er his pale corse their pearly sea flowers shed.
And strewed with crimson moss his marble bed;
Struck in their coral towers the passing bell,
And wide in ocean tolled his echoing knell.'
The story, save for its tragic conclusion, reads like a remarkable an-
ticipation of the exploits of the Wright brothers, Bl^riot, and Latham
with the aeroplane to-day, or of Count Zeppelin with his airships.
Djedalus, mourning his son, arrived finally in Sicily where,
being kindly received by King Cocalus, he built a temple to
Apollo and hung up his wings, an offering to the god. But
Minos, having learned of the hiding place of the artificer, fol-
lowed him to Sicily with a great fleet ; and Dtcdalus would surely
have perished, had not one of the daughters of Cocalus disposed
of Minos by scalding him to death while he was bathing.
1 Erasmus Darwin.
248 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
It is said that Daedalus could not bear the idea of a rival. His
sister had placed her son Perdix under his charge to be taught the
mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar and gave striking evi-
dences of ingenuity. Walking on the seashore, he picked up the
spine of a fish, and, imitating it in iron, invented the saw. He
invented, also, a pair of compasses. But Daedalus, earaous of his
nephew, pushed him off a tower and killed him. mm^^, how-
ever, in pity of the boy, changed him into a bird, the partridge,
which bears his name.
To the descendants of Inachus we shall again return in the
account of the house of Labdacus.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS
174. From Cecrops^ to Philomela. Cecrops, half-snake, half-
man, came from Crete or Egypt into Attica, founded Athens, and
chose Minerva rather than Neptune as its guardian. His successor
was Erichthonius,* or Erechtheus, a snake-formed genius of the
fertile soil of Attica, This
Erichthonius^ was a spe-
cial ward of the goddess
Minerva, who brought
him up in her temple.
His son Pandion had two
daughters, Procne and
Philomela, of whom he
gave the former in mar-
riage to Tereus, king of
Thrace (or of Daulis in
Phocis). This ruler, after
his wife had borne him
a son Itys (or Itylus),
wearied of her, plucked
out her tongue by the roots to
that she was dead, took in marriage the other sister, Philomela.
Procne -by means of a web, into which she wove her story, in-
formed Philomela of the horrible truth. In revenge upon Tereus,
the sisters killed Itylus and served up the child as food to the
father ; but the gods, in indignation, transformed Procne into a
swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, forever bemoaning the mur-
dered Itylus, and Tereus into a hawk, forever pursuing the sisters.*
Fig. 139. Theseus
; her silence, and, pretending
250 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
175. Matthew Arnold's Philomela.
Hark ! ah, the nightingale —
The tawny-throated !
Hark, from that moonlit cedar what a burst !
What triumph ! hark ! — what pain !
O wanderer from a Grecian shore,
Still, after many years in distant lands.
Still nourishing in thy bewilder'd brain
That wild, unquench'd, deep-sunken, old-world pain —
Say, will it never heal ?
And can this fragrant lawn
With its cool trees, and night.
And the sweet, tranquil Thames,
And moonshine, and the dew.
To thy rack'd heart and brain
Afford no calm ?
Dost thou to-night behold.
Here, through the moonlight on this English grass,
The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild ?
Dost thou again p>eruse.
With hot cheeks and sear'd eyes,
The too clear web, and thy dumb sister's shame ?
Dost thou once more assay
Thy flight, and feel come over thee.
Poor fugitive, the feathery change
Once more, and once more seem to make resound
With love and hate, triumph and agony.
Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale ?
Listen, Eugenia —
How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves !
Again — thou hearest ?
Eternal passion !
Eternal pain !
According to another version of this story, it was Philomela
who was robbed of her tongue and who wove the web by means
of which the queen Procne learned the truth.
176. Theseus.^ A descendant of Erechtheus, or of Cecrops, was
iEgeus, king of Athens. By ^Ethra, granddaughter of Pelops, he
^ Ovid, Metam. 7, 350-424 ; Plutarch, Theseus.
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS 25I
became the father of the Attic hero, Theseus, j^geus, on parting
from ^thra, before the birth of the child, had placed his sword
and shoes under a large stone and had directed her to send the
child to him if it should prove strong enough to roll away the
stone and fake what was under. The lad Theseus was brought up
at Trcezen, of which Pittheus, ^thra's father, was king. When
jEthra thought the time had come, she led Theseus to the stone.
He removed it with ease and took the sword and shoes. Since at
that time the roads
were infested with rob-
bers, his grandfather
Pittheus pressed him
earnestly to take the
shorter and safer way
to his father's country,
by sea ; but the youth,
feeling in himself the
spirit and soul of a
hero and eager to
signalize himself hke
Hercules, determmed
on the more perilous
and adventurous jour
ney by land.
His first da/s jour p,^ ,^ ^^^ ^^„ ^^^^^^
ney brought him to
Epidaurus, where dwelt Penphetes, a son of Vulcan This fero-
cious savage always went armed with a club of iron, ind all travel-
ers stood in terror of his \iolence, but beneath the blows of the
young hero he speedily fell.
Several similar contests with the petty tyrants and marauders of
the country followed, in all of which Theseus was victorious. Most
important was his slaughter of Procrustes, or the Stretcher, This
giant, had an iron bedstead on which he used to tie all travelers
who fell into his hands. If they were shorter than the bed, he
stretched them till they fitted it ; if they were longer than the bed,
he lopped off their limbs.
-^^^^^^Ji--^
252
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
In the course of time Theseus reached Athens, but here new
dangers awaited him. For Medea, the sorceress, who had fled
from Corinth after her separation from Jason,* had become the
wife of ^geus. Knowing by her arts who the stranger was, and
fearing the loss of her influence with her husband if Theseus
should be acknowledged as his son, she tried to poison the
youth ; but the sword which he wore discovered him to his father
_ ____ and prevented the fatal
draft. Medea fled to
Asia, where the country
afterwards called Media
is said to have received
its name from her,
Theseus was acknowl-
edged by his sire and
declared successor to
the throne.
177. Thesens and
Ariadne.^ Now the
Athenians were at that
time in deep affliction
on account of the tril>-
ute of youths and maid-
ens which they were
forced to send to the
Minotaur, dwelling in
the labyrinth of Crete,
— a penalty said to have
been imposed by Minos upon the Athenians because ^geus had
sent Androgeiis, the son of Minos, against the Marathonian bull
and so had brought about the young man's death.
From this calamity Theseus resolved to deliver his countrymen
or to die in the attempt. He, therefore, in spite of the entreaties
of his father, presented himself as champion of Athens and of her
fair sons and daughters, to do battle against the Minotaur, and
depjarted with the victims in a vessel bearing black sails, which he
i{ 167. lOdyucy, it,]ii; Plutaich, Theseus ; CatuUus, LXIV.
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS 253
promised his father to change for white in the event of his return-
ing victorious. So, —
Rather than cargo on cargo of corpses undead should be wafted ^
Over the ravening sea to the pitiless monster of Creta, —
Leaving the curved strand Piraean, and wooing the breezes,
Theseus furrowed the deep to the dome superb of the tyrant.
Then as the maid Ariadne beheld him with glances of longing, —
Princess royal of Creta Minoan, tender, sequestered, —
Locked in a mother's embrace, in seclusion virginal, fragrant.
Like some myrtle set by streaming ways of Eurotas,
Like to the varied tints that Spring invites with her breezes, —
Then, as with eager gaze she looked her first upon Theseus,
Never a whit she lowered her eyes nor ceased to consume him.
Ere to the core profound her breast with love was enkindled.
— God-born boy, thou pitiless heart, provoker of madness,
Mischievous, mingling care with the fleeting pleasure of mortals, —
Goddess of Golgi, thou, frequenter of coverts Idalian,
In what wildering seas ye tossed the impassionate maiden
Ever a-sighing, — aye for the fair-haired stranger a-sighing !
Ah, what ponderous fears oppressed her languishing bosom.
How, more pallid than gold her countenance flashed into whiteness.
What time Theseus marched unto death or to glory undying.
Manful, minded to quell the imbruted might of the monster !
Not unaided, however, did he undertake the task ; for Ariadne,
apprehensive lest he might lose his way in the daedalian labyrinth,
furnished him with a thread, the gift of Vulcan, which, unrolled
by Theseus as he entered the maze, should enable him on his return
to retrace his former path. Meanwhile —
Offering artless bribes, Ariadne invoked the Immortals,
Kindled voiceless lip with unvoiced tribute of incense.
Suppliant, not in vain : for, like to an oak upon Taurus,
Gnarled, swinging his arms, — like some cone-burthen^d pine tree
Oozing the life from his bark, that, riven to heart by the whirlwind,
Wholly uprooted from earth, falls prone with extravagant ruin.
Perishes, dealing doom with precipitate rush of its branches, —
So was the Cretan brute by Theseus done to destruction,
E'en so, tossing in vain his horns to the vacuous breezes.
1 Catullus, LXIV. From The Wedding of Pcleus and Thetis. A Translation in Hexam-
eters, by Charles Mills Gayley.
4 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Then with abundant laud he turned, unscathed from the combat,
Theseus, — guiding his feet unsure by the filament slender,
Lest as he threaded paths circuitous, ways labyrinthine.
Some perverse, perplexing, erratic alley might foil him.
Why should I tarry to tell how, quitting her sire, Ariadne
Quitting the sister's arms, the infatuate gaae of the mother, ^
She whose sole delight, whose life, was her desperate daughter, —
How Ariadne made less of the love of them
all than of Theseus ?
Why should I sing how sailing they a
the beaches of Dia, —
While with the foam, — how thence, false-
hearted, the lover departing
Left her benighted with sleep, the I
princess of Creta ?
Fig. 142. The Sj-eeping Ariadne
Gazing amain from the marge of the flood-reverberant Dia,
Chafing with ire, indignant, exasperate, — lo, Ariadne,
Lorn Ariadne, beholds swift craft, swift lover retreadng.
Nor can be sure she sees what things she sees of a surely.
When upspringing from sleep, she shakes off treacherous slumber^J
Lone beholds herself on a shore forlorn of the ocean.
Carelessly hastens the youth, meantime, who, driving his oar-blades
Hard in the waves, consigns void vows to the blustering breezes.
But as, afar from the sedge, with sad eyes still the MinoVd
Mute aa a Mxnad in stone unmoving stonily gazes —
Heart o'erwhelmed with woe — ah, thus, while thus she is gazing, —
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS 255
Down from her yellow hair slips, sudden, the weed of the fine-spun
Snood, and the vesture light of her mantle down from the shoulders
Slips, and the twisted scarf encircling her womanly bosom ;
Stealthily gliding, slip they downward into the billow,
Fall, and are tossed by the buoyant flood at the feet of the fair one.
Nothing she recks of the coif, of the floating garment as little.
Cares not a moment then, whose care hangs only on Theseus, —
Wretched of heart, soul-wrecked, dependent only on Theseus, —
Desperate, woe-unselfed with a cureless sorrow incessant,
Frantic, bosoming torture of thorns Erycina had planted. . . .
Then, they say, that at last, infuriate out of all measure,
Once and again she poured shrill-voiced shrieks from her bosom ;
Helpless, clambered steeps, sheer beetling over the surges.
Whence to enrange with her eyes vast futile regions of ocean ; —
Lifting the folds, soft folds of her garments, baring her ankles,
Dashed into edges of upward waves that trembled before her ;
Uttered, anguished then, one wail, her maddest and saddest, — «
Catching with tear-wet lips poor sobs that shivering choked her : —
■* Thus is it far from my home, O traitor, and far from its altars —
Thus on a desert strand, — dost leave me, treacherous Theseus ?
Thus is it thou dost flout our vow, dost flout the Immortals, —
Carelessly homeward bearest, with baleful ballast of curses ?
Never, could never a plea forfend thy cruelly minded
Counsel? Never a pity entreat thy bosom for shelter? . . .
Hence, let never a maid confide in the oath of a lover,
Never presume man's vows hold aught trustworthy within them !
Verily, while in anguish of heart his spirit is longing,
Nothing he spares to assiever, nor aught makes scruple to promise :
But, an his dearest desire, his nearest of heart be accorded —
Nothing he recks of afliance, and reckons perjury, — nothing.
" Oh ! what lioness whelped thee ? Oh ! what desolate cavern ?
What was the sea that spawned, that spat from its churning abysses,
.Thee, — what wolfish Scylla, or Syrtis, or vasty Charybdis,
Thee, — thus thankful for life, dear gift of living, I gave thee ? . . .
Had it not liked thee still to acknowledge vows that we plighted,
Mightest thou homeward, yet, have borne me a damsel beholden,
Fain to obey thy will, and to lave thy feet like a servant,
Fain to bedeck thy couch with purple coverlet for thee.
" But to the hollow winds why stand repeating my quarrel, —
I, for sorrow unselfed, — they, but breezes insensate^ —
256 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Potent neither voices to iiear nor words to re-echo? . . .
Yea, but where shall I turn f Forlorn, what succor rely on ?
' Haste to the Gnossian hills? ' Ah, see how distantly surging
Deeps forbid, distending their gulfs abhorrent before me !
' Comfort my heart, mayhap, with the loyal love of my husband ? '
Lo, the reluctant oar, e'en now, he plies to forsake me ! — ■
Nought but the homeless strand of an isle remote of the ocean !
No, no way of escape, where the circling sea without shore is, —
No, no counsel of flight, no hope, no sound of a. mortal;
All things desolate, dumb, yea, all things summoning deathward !
Yet mine eyes shall not fade in death that sealeth
the eyelids,
Nor from the frame outworn shall fare my linger,
ing senses.
Ere, undone, from powers divine I claim retribu-
n the faith of
" Come, then, Righters of Wrong, O vengeful
dealers of justice,
Braided with coil of the serpents, O Eumenides,
Brows that blazon ire exhaling aye from the bosom,
Haste, oh, haste ye, hither and hear me, vehement
plaining.
Destitute, fired with rage, stark-blind, demented
Fig. 143. Head of for fury ! —
Dionysus As with careless heart yon Theseus sailed and
So with folly of heart, may he slay himself and his household! "
. , . Then with a nod supreme Olympian Jupiter nodded:
Quaked thereat old Earth, — -quaked, shuddered the terrified waters.
Ay, and the constellations in Heaven that glitter were jangled.
Straightway like some cloud on the inward vision of Theseus
Dropped oblivion down, enshrouding vows he had cherished,
Hiding away all trace of the solemn behest of his father.
For, as was said before, jEgeus, on the departure of his son for
Creta, liad given him this command : " If Minerva, goddess of our
city, grant thee victory over the Minotaur, hoist on thy return,
when first the dear hills of Attica greet thy vision, white canvas
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS 257
to herald thy joy and mine,
that mine eyes may see the
propitious sign and know the
glad day that restores thee
safe to me,"
. . . Even as clouds compelled by
urgent push of the breezes
Float from the brow uplift of a
snow-en velopfed mountain,
So from Theseus passed all prayer
and behest of his father.
Waited the sire meanwhile, looked
out from his tower over ocean
Wasted his anxious eyes in futile
labor of weeping
Waited expectant — saw to the
southward sails black bellied —
Hurled him headlong down from
the homd steep to destnic
Weening hateful Fate had severed
the fortune of Theseus
Theseus, then, as he paced that
gloom of the home of his
father,
Insolent Theseus knew himself
what manner of evil
He with a careless heart had afore-
time dealt Anadne —
Fixed Ariadne that still still stared
where the ship had receded, —
Wounded, revolvmg in heart her
countless muster of sorrows.
178. Bacclius and Ariadne.
But for the deserted daughter
of Minos a happier fate was
yet reserved. This island, on
which she had been aban-
doned, was Naxos, loved and
I 258 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
especially haunted by Bacchus, where with his train of reeling "'
devotees he was wont to hold high carnival.
. . . Sweeping over the shore, lo, beautiful, bli>oming lacchus, —
Chorused of Satyrs in dance and of Nysian-born Sileni, —
Seeking fair Ariadne, — afire with flame of a lover !
Lightly around him leaped Bacchantes, strenuous, frenzied,
Nodding their heads, " Euhoe ! " to the cry, " Euhoe, O Bacchus ! '
Some — enwreathSd spears of lacchus madly were waving ;
Some — ensanguined limbs of the bullock, quivering, brandished;
Some — were twining themselves with sinuous snakes that twisted;
Some — with vessels of signs mysterious, passed in procession —
Symbols profound that in vain the profane may seek to decipher;
Certain struck with the palms — with tapered fingers on timbrels,
Others the tenuous clash of the rounded cymbals awakened ; —
Brayed with a raucous roar through the turmoil many a trumpet.
Many a stridulous fife went, shrill, barbarian, shrieking.'
So the grieving, much-wronged Ariadne was consoled for the
loss of her mortal spouse by an immortal lover. The blooming god
of the vine wooed and won her. After her death, the golden crown
that he had given her was transferred by him to the heavens. As
it mounted the ethereal spaces, its gems, growing in brightness,
became stars ; and still it remains fixed, as a constellation, between
the kneeling Hercules and the man that holds the serpent.
179. The Amazons. As king of Athens, it is said that Theseus
undertook an expedition against the Amazons. Assailing them
before they had recovered from the attack of Hercules, he carried
off their queen Antiope ; but they in turn, invading the country
of Athens, penetrated into the city itself ; and there was fought
the final battle in which Theseus overcame them.
180. Theseus and Pirithous. A famous friendship between
Theseus and Pirithoiis of Thessaly, son of Jupiter, originated in
the midst of arms. Pirithoiis had made an irruption into the plain
of Marathon and had carried off the herds of the king of Athens.
Theseus went to repel the plunderers. The moment the Thessalian
beheld him, he was seized with admiration, and stretching out his
hand as a token of peace, he cried, "Be judge thyself, — what
1 CKuIIiu, LXIV (Charlei MUli Gayley'a tranilatlan}.
THE HOUSE OF CECROPS AND ERICHTHONIUS
259
satisfaction dost thou require ?" — " Thy friendship," replied the
Athenian ; and they swore inviolable fidelity. Their deeds cor-
responding to their professions, they continued true brothers in
arms. When, accordingly, Pirithoiis was to marry Hippodamia,
daughter of Atrax, Theseus took his friend's part in the battle
that ensued between the Lapithse (of whom Pirithoiis was king)
and the Centaurs. For it happened that at the marriage feast, the
Centaurs were among the guests ; and one of them, Euiytion, be-
coming intoxicated, attempted to offer violence to the bride. Other
Centaurs followed his example; combat was joined; Theseus leaped
into the fray, and not a
few of the guests bit the
dust.
Later, each of these
friends aspired to espouse
a daughter of Jupiter.
Theseus fixed his choice
on Leda's daughter Helen,
then a child, but after-
wards famous as the cause
of the Trojan War ; and
with the aid of his friend
he carried her off, only,
however, to restore her
at very short notice. As
for Pirithoiis, he aspired
to the wife of the monarch of Erebus ; and Theseus, though aware
of the danger, accompanied the ambitious lover to the underworld.
But Pluto seized and set them on an enchanted rock at his palace
gate, where fixed they remained till Hercules, arriving, liberated
Theseus but left Pirithous to his fate.
181. Phaedra and HippolytuB. After the death of Antiope,
Theseus married Phsedra, sister of the deserted Ariadne, daughter
of Minos. But Phadra, seeing in Hippolytus, the son of Theseus,
a youth endowed with all the graces and virtues of his father and
of an age corresponding to her own, loved him. When, however,
he repulsed her advances, her love was changed to despair aad
Fig. 145. Lapith
26o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
hate. Hanging herself, she left for her husband a scroll containing
false charges against Hippolytus. The infatuated husband, filled,
therefore, with jealousy of his son, imprecated the vengeance of
Neptune upon him. As Hippolytus one day drove his chariot
along the shore, a sea monster raised himself above the waters
and frightened the horses so that they ran away and dashed the
chariot to pieces. Hippolytus was killed, but by ^Esculapius was
restored to life, and then, removed by Diana from the power of his
deluded father, was placed in Italy under the protection of the
nymph Egeria.
In his old age, Theseus, losing the favor of his people, retired
to the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, who at first received
him kindly, but afterwards treacherously put him to death.
^^^>CaA uj<:^^^
CHAPTER XIX
THE HOUSE OF LABDACUS
182. The Misfortunes irf Thebes. Returning to the descendants
of Inachus, we find that the curse which fell upon Cadmus when
he slew the dragon of Mars followed nearly every scion of his
house. His daughters, Semele, Ino, Autonoe, Agave, — his grand-
sons, Melicertes, Actason, Pentheus, — lived sorrowful lives or
suffered violent deaths. The
misfortunes of one branch of
his family, sprung from his son
Polydorus, remain to be told.
The curse seems to have spared
Polydorus himself. His son
Labdacus, also, lived a quiet
life as king of Thebes and left
a son, Lalus, upon the throne.
But erelong Lalus was warned
by an oracle that there was dan-
ger to his throne and life if
his son, new-born, should reach
man's estate. He, therefore,
committed the child to a herds-
man with orders for its destruction ; but the herdsman, moved
with pity yet not daring entirely to disobey, pierced the child's
feet, purposing to expose him to the elements on Mount Citheeron.
183. (Edipus and the Sphinx.' In this plight the infant was
given to a tender-hearted fellow-shepherd, who carried him to
King Polybus of Corinth and his queen, by whom he was adopted
and called CEdipus, or Swollen-foot.
Fig. 146. CEdi
1 Sophocles, (Edipus Rex, (Edipua Coloneus, A
IW. 3. S, H 7. <■
: : Apollo-
262 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Many years afterward, CEdipus, learning from an oracle that he
was destined to be the death of his father, left the realm of his
reputed sire, Polybus. It happened, however, that Lams was then
driving to Delphi, accompanied only by one attendant. In a narrow
road he met CEdipus, also in a chariot. On the refusal of the youth-
ful stranger to leave the way at their command, the attendant killed
one of his horses. CEdipus, consumed with rage, slew both LaYus
and the attendant, and thus unknowingly fulfilled both oracles.
Shortly after this event, the city of Thebes, to which CEdipus
had repaired, was afflicted with a monster that infested the high-
road. She was called the Sphinx. She had the body of a lion and
the upper part of a woman. She lay crouched on the top of a rock
and, arresting all travelers who came that way, propounded to
them a riddle, with the condition that those who could solve it
should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one
had yet succeeded in guessing it. CEdipus, not daunted by these
alarming accounts, boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked
him, ** What animal is it that in the morning goes on four feet, at
noon on two, and in the evening upon three ? " CEdipus replied,
'' Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood
walks erect, and in old age goes with the aid of a staff." The
Sphinx, mortified at the collapse of her riddle, cast herself down
from the rock and perished.
184. (Edipusy the King. In gratitude for their deliveranccj the
Thebans made CEdipus their king, giving him in marriage their
queen, Jocasta. He, ignorant of his parentage, had already become
the slayer of his father ; in marrying the queen he became the
husband of his mother. These horrors remained undiscovered till,
after many years, Thebes being afflicted with famine and pestilence,
the oracle was consulted, and, by a series of coincidences, the double
crime of CEdipus came to light. At once, Jocasta put an end to
her life by hanging herself. As for CEdipus, horror-struck, —
When her form
He saw, poor wretch ! with one wild fearful cry,
The twisted rope he loosens, and she fell,
Ill-starred one, on the ground. Then came a sight
Most fearful. Tearing from her robe the clasps,
THE HOUSE OF LABDACUS 263
All chased with gold, with which she decked herself,
He with them struck the pupils of his eyes,
With words like these : " Because they had not seen
What ills he suffered, and what ills he did,
They in the dark should look, in time to come,
On those whom they ought never to have seen.
Nor know the dear ones whom he fain had known."
With suchlike wails, not once or twice alone.
Raising his eyes he smote them, and the balls.
All bleeding, stained his cheek.^
185. (Edipus at Colonus. After these sad events CEdipus would
have left Thebes, but the oracle forbade the people to let him go.
Jocasta's brother, Creon, was made regent of the realm for the two
sons of QEdipus. But after CEdipus had grown content to stay,
these sons of his, with Creon, thrust him into exile. Accompanied
by his daughter Antigone, he went begging through the land. His
other daughter, Ismene, at first stayed at home. Cursing the sons
who had abandoned him, but bowing his own will in submission to
the ways of God, CEdipus approached the hour of his death in
Colonus, a village near Athens. His friend Theseus, king of
Athens, comforted and sustained him to the last. Both his daugh-
ters were also with him :
And then he called his girls, and bade them fetch
Clear water from the stream, and bring to him
For cleansing and libation. And they went.
Both of them, to yon hill we look upon,
Owned by Demeter of the fair green corn,
And quickly did his bidding, bathed his limbs.
And clothed them in the garment that is meet.
And when he had his will in all they did.
And not one wish continued unfulfilled,
Zeus from the dark depths thundered, and the girls
Heard it, and shuddering, at their father's knees.
Falling they wept ; nor did they then forbear
Smiting their breasts, nor groanings lengthened out ;
And when he heard their bitter cry, forthwith
Folding his arms around them, thus he spake :
" My children, on this day ye cease to have
1 Sophocles, (Edipus, the King (E. H. Pliimptre's tnx^s^aXlvc^Tv^.
264 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
A father. All my days are spent and gone ;
And ye no more shall lead your wretched life,
Caring for me. Hard was it, that I know.
My children ! Yet one word is strong to loose,
Although alone, the burden of these toils.
For love in larger store ye could not have
From any than from him who standeth here.
Of whom bereaved ye now shall live your life." ^
There was sobbing, then silence. Then a voice called him, —
and he followed. God took him from his troubles. Antigone
returned to Thebes, — where, as we shall see, her sisterly fidelity
showed itself as true as, aforetime, her filial affection.
Her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, had meanwhile agreed to
share the kingdom, between them and to reign alternately year by
year. The first year fell to the lot of Eteocles, who, when his
time expired, refused to surrender the kingdom to his brother.
Polynices, accordingly, fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave
him his daughter in marriage and aided him with an army to
enforce his claim to the kingdom. These causes led to the cele-
brated expedition of the " Seven against Thebes," which furnished
ample materials for the epic and tragic poets of Greece. And
here the younger heroes of Greece make their appearance.
1 Sophocles, CEdipus at Colonus, 11. 1600, etc. (E. H. Plumptre's translation).
CHAPTER XX
MYTHS OF THE YOUNGER HEROES : THE SEVEN
AGAINST THEBES
186. Their Exploits. The exploits of the sons and grandsons
of the chieftains engaged in the Calydonian Hunt and the Quest
of the Golden Fleece are narrated in four stories, — the Seven
against Thebes, the Siege of Troy, the Wanderings of Ulysses,
and the Adventures of ^neas.
187. The Seven against Thebes.^ The allies of Adrastus and
Polynices in the enterprise against Thebes were Tydeus of Caly-
don, half brother of Meleager, Parthenopaeus of Arcadia, son of
Atalanta and Mars, Capaneus of Argos, Hippomedon of Argos, and
Amphiaraiis, the brother-in-law of Adrastus. Amphiaraiis opposed
the expedition for, being a soothsayer, he knew that none of the
leaders except Adrastus would live to return from Thebes ; but on
his marriage to Eriphyle, the king*s sister, he had agreed that
whenever he and Adrastus should differ in opinion, the decision
should be left to Eriphyle. Polynices, knowing this, gave Eriphyle
the necklace of Harmonia and thereby gained her to his interest.
This was the selfsame necklace that Vulcan had given to Har-
monia on her marriage with Cadmus ; Polynices had taken it with
him on his flight from Thebes. It seems to have been still fraught
with the curse of the house of Cadmus. But Eriphyle could not
resist so tempting a bribe. By her decision the war was resolved
on, and Amphiaraiis went to his fate. He bore his part bravely
in the contest, but still could not avert his destiny. While, pur-
sued by the enemy, he was fleeing along the river, a thunderbolt
launched by Jupiter opened the ground, and he, his chariot, and
his charioteer were swallowed up.
1 iEschylus, Seven against Thebes ; Euripides, Phoenissae ; Apollodorus, 3. 6 and 7 ;
Hyginus, Fab. 69, 70 ; Pausanias, 8 and 9 ; Statius, Thebaid.
265
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^H It is unnecessary here to detail all the acts of heroism or atroc-
^p jty which marked this contest. The fidelity, however, of Evadne
* stands out as an offset to the weakness of Eriphyle. Her hus-
band, Capaneus, having in the ardor of the fight declared that he
would force his way into the city in spite of Jove himself, placed
I ladder against the wall and mounted; but Jupiter, offended at
I his impious language, struck him with a thunderbolt. When his
^ obsequies were celebrated, Evadne cast herself on his funeral pile
land perished.
It seems that early in the contest Eteocles consulted the sooth-
gayer Tiresias an to the issue. Now, this Tiresias in his youth had
Why chance seen Minerva bathing, and had been deprived by her
\.<^ his sight, but afterwards had obtained of her the knowledge of
_ future events. When
consulted by Eteocles,
he declared that vic-
tor)' should fall to
Thebes if Menoeceus,
the son of Creon, gave
himself a voluntary vic-
tim. The heroic youth,
learning the response,
threw away his life in
the first encounter.
The siege continued
!'((;. 1^: '"'"''■ ■ '' '''"-VNicEK KILL long, with varying suc-
»cess. At length both
hosts agreed that the brothers should decide their quarrel by single
combat. They fought, and fell each by the hand of the other. The
armies then renewed the fight ; and at last the invaders were forced
to yield, and fled, leaving their dead urburied. Creon, the uncle of
the fallen princes, now became king, caused Eteocles to be buried
with distinguished honor, but suffered the body of Polynices to lie
where it fell, forbidding any one, on pain of death, to give it burial.
188. Antigone,^ the sister of Polynices, heard with indigna-
Ition the revolting edict which, consigning her brother's body to
> SdpliPClM, Antigone i Euripides, Supplants.
i
YOUNGER HEROES : THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 267
the dogs and vultures, deprived it of the rites that were consid-
ered essential to the repose of the dead. Unmoved by the dis-
suading counsel of her affectionate but timid sister, and unable to
procure assistance, she determined to brave the hazard and to
bury the body with her own hands. She was detected in the act.
When Creon asked the fearless woman whether she dared disobey
the laws, she answered :
Yes, for it was not Zeus who gave them forth,
Nor justice, dwelling with the gods below,
Who traced these laws for all the sons of men ;
Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough,
That thou, a mortal man, should'st overpass
The unwritten laws of God that know no change.
They are not of to-day nor yesterday.
But live forever, nor can man assign
When first they sprang to being. Not through fear
Of any man's resolve was I prepared
Before the gods to bear the penalty
Of sinning against these. That I should die
I knew (how should I not ?), though thy decree
Had never spoken. And before my time
If I shall die, I reckon this a gain ;
For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,
How can it be but he shall gain by death ?
And so for me to bear this doom of thine
Has nothing fearful. But, if I had left
My mother's son unburied on his death.
In that I should have suffered ; but in this
I suffer not.^
Creon, unyielding and unable to conceive of a law higher than that
he knew, gave orders that she should be buried alive, as having
deliberately set at nought the solemn edict of the city. Her lover,
Haemon, the son of Creon, unable to avert her fate, would not
survive her, and fell by his own hand. It is only after his son's
death and as he gazes upon the corpses of the lovers, that the
aged Creon recognizes the insolence of his narrow judgment.
And those that stand beside him say :
1 Sophocles, Antigone, 11. 450-470 (E. H. P\.\ira^t£«?^\xaiv"^'a^cixJ>^.
26& THE CLASSIC M^THS
Man'8 highest blessedness
In wisdom chiefly stands;
And in the things that touch upon the gods,
T is best in word or deed.
To shun unholy pride ;
Great words of boasting bring great punishments,
And so to gray-haired age
Teach wisdom at the last^
189. The Epigoni.^ Such was the fall of the house of Labdacus.
The bane of Cadmus expires with the family of CEdipus. But the
wedding gear of Harmonia has not yet fulfilled its baleful mission.
Amphiaraiis had, with his last breath, enjoined his son Alcmaeon
to avenge him on the faithless Eriphyle. Alcmaeon engaged his
word, but beforeMfeccomplishing the fell purpose, he was ordered
by an oracle of Delphi to conduct against Thebes a new expedition.
Thereto his mother Eriphyle, influenced by Thersander, the son
of Polynices, and bribed this time by the gift of Harmonia's wed-
ding garment, impelled not only Alcmaeon but her other son,
Amphilochus. The descendants {Epigont) of the former Seven
thus renewed the war against Thebes. They leveled the city to the
ground. Its inhabitants, counseled by Tiresias, took refuge in for-
eign lands. Tiresias himself perished during the flight. Alcmaeon,
returning to Argos, put his mother to death but, in consequence,
repeated in his own experience the penalty of Orestes. The outfit
of Harmonia preserved its malign influence until, at last, it was
devoted to the temple at Delphi and removed from the sphere of
mortal jealousies.
1 Sophocles, Antigone, closing chorus.
3 Fausanias, 9, 9, §§ 2, 3 ; Herodotus, 5, 61 ; ApoUodorus.
CHAPTER XXI
HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN WAR
190. Three Families. Before entering upon the causes of the war
against Troy, we must notice the three Grecian families that were
principally concerned, — those of Peleus, Atreus, and Tyndareus.
191. Peleus 1 was the son of ^acus and grandson of Jove. It
was for his father ^Eacus, king of Phthia in Tliessaly, that, as we
have seen, an army of Myrmidons was created by Jupiter. Peleus
joined the expedition of the Argonauts, and on tmt journey beheld
and fell in love with the sea-nymph Thetis, daughter of Nereus
and Doris. Such was the beauty of the nymph that Jupiter him-
self had sought her in marriage ; but having learned from Pro-
metheus, the Titan, that Thetis should bear a son who should .be
greater than his father, the Olympian desisted from his suit and
decreed that Thetis should be the wife of a mortal. By the aid of
Chiron, the Centaur, Peleus succeeded in winning the goddess for
his bride. In this marriage, to be productive of momentous results
for mortals, the immortals manifested a lively interest. They
thronged with the Thessalians to the wedding in Pharsalia ; they
honored the wedding feast with their presence and, reclining on
ivory couches, gave ear while the three Sisters of Fate, in respon-
sive strain, chanted the fortunes of Achilles, — the future hero
of the Trojan War, — the son that should spring from this union
of a goddess with a mortal. The following is from a translation of
the famous poem. The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis : ^
. . . Now, on the day foreset, Aurora forsaking the ocean
Crimsons the orient sky : all Thessaly, seeking the palace,
Fares to the royal seat, in populous muster exultant,
Heavy of hand with gifts, but blithesome of cheer for the joyance.
1 Ovid, Metam. ii, 221-265; Catullus, LXIV; Hyginus, Fab. 14; Apollonius Rhodius.
Argon. 1, 558; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.; Statius, Achilleid.
2 Catullus, LXIV (Charles Mills Gayley's translation).
269
270 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Scyros behind they leave, they leave Phthiotican Tempe,
Crannon's glittering domes and the battlements Larissaean,
Cumber Pharsalia, throng the abodes and the streets of Pharsalus.
Fields, meanwhile are untilled, grow tender the necks of the oxen,
None with the curving teeth of the harrow cleareth the vineyard,
None uptumeth the glebe with bull and the furrowing plowshare.
None with gardener's knife lets light through the branches umbrageous ;
Squalid the rust creeps up o'er plows forgotten of plowmen.
Bright is the palace, ay, through far retreating recesses
Blazing for sheen benign of the opulent gold and the silver :
Ivory gleams on the thrones, great goblets glint on the tables.
Glitters the spacious home, made glad with imperial splendor, —
Ay, but most — in the hall midmost — is the couch of the goddess.
Glorious, made of the tusk of the Indian elephant — polished —
Spread with a wonder of quilt empurpled with dye of the sea-shell.
On this coverlet of purple were embroidered various scenes illus-
trating the lessons of heroism and justice that the poet would
inculcate : to the good falleth good ; to the evil, evil speedily.
Therefore, the story of Theseus and Ariadne, which has already
been recounted, was here displayed in cunning handiwork. For
Theseus, the false lover, bold of hand but bad of heart, gained by
retributive justice undying ruth and misery ; whereas Ariadne, the
injured and innocent, restored to happiness, won no less a reward
than Bacchus himself. Gorgeously woven with such antique and
heroic figures was the famous quilt upon the couch of Thetis. For
a season the wedding guests feasted their eyes upon it.
Then when Thessaly's youth, long gazing, had of the wonder
Their content, they gan give place to the lords of Olympus.
As when Zephyr awakes the recumbent billows of ocean.
Roughens the placid deep with eager breath of the morning.
Urges the waves, and impels, to the threshold of journeying Phoebus, —
They, at first, blown outward unroughly when Dawn is a-rising.
Limp slow-footed, and loiter with laughter lightsomely plashing,
But, with the freshening gale, creep quicker and thicker together,
Till on horizon they float refulgent of luminous purple, —
So from the portal withdrawing the pomp Thessalian departed
Faring on world-wide ways to the far-off homes of their fathers.
HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN WAR 271
Now when they were aloof, drew nigh from Pelion's summit
Chiron bearing gifts from copses and glades of the woodland —
Gifts that the meadows yield : what fiowers on Thessaly's mountains,
Or, by waves of the stream, the prolific breath of the West Wind,
Warming, woos to the day, all such in bunches assorted
Bore he. Flattered with odors the whole house brake into laughter.
Came there next Peneus, abandoning verdurous Tempe —
Tempe embowered deep mid superimpendent forests.
And after the nver god, who bore with him nodding plane trees
and lofty beeches, straight slim laurels, the lithe poplar, and the
ait} cypress to plant about the palace that thick foliage might give
it shade, followed Prometheus, the bold and cunning of heart,
wearing still the marks of his ancient punishment on the rocks of
Fig, 148. The Gods bring Wedding Gifts
Caucasus. Finally the father of the gods himself came, with his
holy spouse and his offspring, — all, save Phcebus and his one
sister, who naturally looked askance upon a union to be productive
of untold misfortune to their favored town of Troy.
. . . When now the gods had reclined their limbs on the ivory couches,
Viands many and rare were heaped on the banqueting tables,
Whilst the decrepit Sisters of Fate, their tottering bodies
Solemnly swayed, and rehearsed their soothfast vaticination.
— Lo, each tremulous frame was wrapped in robe of a whiteness,
Down to the ankles that fell, with nethermost border of purple.
While on ambrosial brows there rested fillets like snowilakes.
They, at a task eternal their hands religiously plying,
Held in the left on high, with wool enfolded, a distaff,
Delicate fibers wherefrom, drawn down, were shaped by the right hand —
Shaped by fingers upturned, — but the down-turned thumb set a-whirliti?;.
272 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Poised with perfected whorl, the industrious shaft of the spindle.
Still, as they span, as they span, was the tooth kept nipping and smoothing,
And to the withered lip dung morsels of wool as they smoothed it —
Filaments erstwhile rough that stood from the twist of the surface.
Close at their feet, meantime, were woven baskets of wicker
Guarding the soft white balls of the wool resplendent within them.
Thus then, parting the strands, these Three with resonant voices
Uttered, in chant divine, predestined sooth of the future —
Prophecy neither in time, nor yet in eternity, shaken.
" Thou that exaltest renown of thy name with the name of thy valor.
Bulwark Emathian, blest above sires in the offspring of promise.
Hear with thine ears this day what oracles fall from the Sisters
Chanting the fates for thee ; — but you, ye destiny-drawing
Spindles, hasten the threads of the destinies set for the future !
" Rideth the orb upon high that heralds boon unto bridegrooms —
Hesperus, — cometh anon with star propitious the virgin,
Speedeth thy soul to subdue — submerge it with love at the flood tide.
Hasten, ye spindles, and run, yea, gallop, ye thread-running spindles !
" Erstwhile, never a home hath roofed like generous loving.
Never before hath Love conjoined lovers so dearly, —
Never with harmony such as endureth for Thetis and Peleus.
Hasten, ye spindles, and run, yea, gallop, ye thread-running spindles !
" Bom unto you shall be the undaunted heart of Achilles,
Aye by his brave breast known, unknown by his back to the foeman, —
Victor in onslaught, victor in devious reach of the race-course.
Fleeter of foot than feet of the stag that lighten and vanish, —
Hasten, ye spindles, and run, yea, gallop, ye thread-running spindles ! "
192. Achilles, Son of Peleus. So the sisters prophesied the
future of the hero, Achilles, — from his father called Pelides ;
from his grandfather, iCacides. How by him the Trojans should
fall, as fall the ears of com when they are yellow before the
scythe ; how because of him Scamander should run red, warm with
blood, choked with blind bodies, into the whirling Hellespont;
how finally he himself, in his prime, should fall, and how on his
tomb should be sacrificed the fair Polyxena, daughter of Priam,
whom he had loved. " So," says Catullus, " sang the Fates. For
those were the days before piety and righteous action were spumed
HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN WAR 273
by mankind, the days when Jupiter and his immortals deigned to
consort with zealous man, to enjoy the swet.t odor of his bumt-
offenng, to march beside him to battle, to swell his shout in victory
and his lament in defeat, to smile on his peaceful harvests to
Till- ll'o VD
in T I tM'O^l
recline at his banquets, and to bless the weddings of fair women
and goodly heroes. But now, alas," concludes Catullus, " godliness
and chastity, truth, wisdom, and honor have departed from among
men " :
Wherefore the goda no more vouchsafe their presence to mortals,
Suffer themselves no more to he touched by the ray of the morning.
But there were gods in the pure, — in the go\dwi pnttit (A 'Ct«. K^ta,
2 74 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The hero of the Trojan War, here prophesied, Achilles, fleet of
foot, the dauntless, the noble, the beloved of Zeus, the breaker of the
ranks of men, is the ideal hero of the Greeks, — the mightiest of the
Achaeans far. Of his youth many interesting stories are told : how
his mother, endeavoring to make him invulnerable, plunged him in
the river Styx, and succeeded save with regard to his ankles by which
she held him; and how he was educated in eloquence and the
arts of war by his father*s friend Phoenix, and by his father's other
friend Chiron, the centaur, in riding and hunting and music and the
art of healing. One of the most Greek-minded of our English poets,
Matthew Arnold,^ singing of a beauteous dell by Etna, tells how
In such a glen, on such a day,
On Pelion, on the grassy ground,
Chiron, the aged Centaur, lay,
The young Achilles standing by.
The Centaur taught him to explore
The mountains ; where the glens are dry
And the tired Centaurs come to rest.
And where the soaking springs abound
And the straight ashes grow for spears.
And where the hill goats come to feed
And the sea eagles build their nest.
He showed him Phthia far away.
And said, " O boy, I taught this lore
To Peleus, in long distant years ! "
He told him of the gods, the stars,
The tides ; — and then of mortal wars.
And of the life which heroes lead
Before they reach the Elysian place
And rest in the immortal mead;
And all the wisdom of his race.
Upon the character of Achilles, outspoken, brave, impulsive ; to
his friends passionately devoted, to his foes implacable ; lover of war
and lover of home ; inordinately ambitious but submissive to di-
vine decree ; — upon this handsome, gleaming, terrible, glooming,
princely warrior of his race, the poet of the Iliad delights to dwell,
and the world has delighted in the portraiture from that day to this.
1 Empedocles on Etna.
HOUSES CONCERNED IN THE TROJAN WAR 275
193. Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia and grand-
son of Tantalus, therefore great-grandson of Jove. Both by blood
and by marriage he was connected with Theseus. He took to wife
Aerope, granddaughter of Minos H, king of Crete, and by her
had two sons, Agamemnon, the general of the Grecian army in
the Trojan War, and Menelaiis, at whose solicitation the war was
undertaken. Of Atreus it may be said that with cannibal atrocity
like that of his grandsire, Tantalus, he on one occasion wreaked
his vengeance on a brother, Thyestes, by causing him to eat the
flesh of two of his own children. A son of this Thyestes, iEgisthus
by name, revived in due time against Agamemnon the treacherous
feud that had existed between their fathers.
194. Tyndareus was king of Lacedaemon (Sparta). His wife
was Leda, daughter of Thestius of Calydon, and sister of Althaea,
the mother of Meleager and Dejanira. To Tyndareus Leda bore
Castor and Clytemnestra ; to Jove she bore Pollux and Helen. The
two former were mortal ; the two latter, immortal. Clytemnestra
was married to Agamemnon of Mycenae, to whom she bore Elec-
tra, Iphigenia, Chrysothemis, and Orestes. Helen, the fair imme-
diate cause of the Trojan War, became the wife of Menelaiis, who
with her obtained the kingdom of Sparta.
Of the families of Peleus, Atreus, and Tyndareus, the gene-
alogies will be found m the Commentary corresponding with these
sections of the story ; also the genealogy of Ulysses, one of the
leaders of the Greek army during the war and the hero of the
Odyssey, which narrates his subsequent adventures ; and that of
the royal family of Troy against whom the war was undertaken.
A slight study of these family trees will reveal interesting relation-
ships between the principal participants in the war. For instance :
that the passionate Achilles and the intolerant Ajax, second only
to Achilles in military prowess, are first cousins ; and that the
family of Ajax is connected by marriage with that of the Trojan
Hector, whom he meets in combat. That Ulysses is a distant
cousin of his wife Penelope and of Clytemnestra, the wife of
Agamemnon ; and that he is a kinsman of Patroclus, the bosom
friend of Achilles. In the family of Tyndareus we note most the
tragic and romantic careers of the women, — Clytemnestra, who
276 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
murdered her husband and married his cousm ^gisthus ; Helen,
whose beauty provoked war between her two husbands and their
races ; Penelope, whose fidelity to her absent lord is the marvel of
the Odyssey. It will be noticed, too, that the daughter of Helen,
Hermione, is strangely enough married first by the son of Achilles
and, afterwards, by the son of Agamemnon, and so becomes sister-
in-law to her noble cousins, Electra and Iphigenia.
The kinsmen and descendants of Peleus — Telamon, Ajax,
Teucer, Achilles, Neoptolemus — are characterized by their per-
sonal valor, their intolerant and resentful temper. In the family of
Atreus, the men are remarkable for their kingly attributes ; the
principal women for their unwavering devotion to religious duty.
The members of the royal family of Troy are of richly varied and
most unusual individuality : like Tithonus and Memnon, Paris,
Hesione, Cassandra and Polyxena, poetic and pathetic; like Laom-
edon, Priam, Hector and Troilus, patriotic, persistent in the face
of overwhelming odds ; but all fated to a dolorous end. Of
those engaged in the Trojan War, .^neas and his aged father,
Anchises, beloved of Venus, are practically the only survivors to a
happier day.
CHAPTER XXII
THE TROJAN WAR
... At length I saw a lady within call,
Stiller than chisd'd marble, standing there:
A daughter of the gods, divinely tall,
And most divinely fair.
Her loveliness with shame and with surprise
Froze my swift speech ; she turning on my face
The starlike sorrows of immortal eyes.
Spoke slowly in her place.
" I had great beauty ; ask thou not my name :
No one can be more wise than destiny.
Many drew swords and died. Where'er I came
I brought calamity." '
195. Its Origin. At the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the
gods had been invited with the exception of Eris, or Discord.
Enraged at her exclusion, the goddess threw a golden apple among
1 From Tennyson's Dteam of Fair Women.
278 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the guests, with the inscription, ** For the fairest/' Thereupon
Juno, Venus, and Minerva each claimed the apple. Not willing
to decide so delicate a matter, Jupiter sent the goddesses to Mount
Ida where Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, was tending his
flocks. Till that moment the shepherd-prince had been happy.
He was young and beautiful and beloved, — ** White-breasted like a
star,'* says CEnone, the nymph whom he had wedded :
White-breasted like a star
Fronting the dawn he moved ; a leopard skin
Dropp'd from his shoulder, but his sunny hair
Clustered about his temples like a god's :
And his cheek brighten'd as the foam-bow brightens
When the wind blows the foam, and all my heart
Went forth to embrace him coming ere he came.*
But to him was now committed the judgment between the god-
desses. They appeared :
And at their feet the crocus brake like fire,
Violet, amaracus, and asphodel,
Lotos and lilies : and a wind arose,
And overhead the wandering ivy and vine.
This way and that, in many a wild festoon
Ran riot, garlanding the gnarled boughs
With bunch and berry and flower thro' and thro'.*
Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva glory and renown
in war, Venus the fairest of women for his wife, — each attempt-
ing to bias the judge in her own favor. Paris, forgetting the fair
nymph to whom he owed fealty, decided in favor of Venus, thus
making the two other goddesses his enemies. Under the protection
of the goddess of love, he soon afterwards sailed to Greece. Here
he was hospitably received by Menelaiis, whose wife, Helen, as
fairest of her sex, was unfortunately the prize destined for Paris.
This fair queen had in time past been sought by numerous suitors ;
but before her decision was made known, they all, at the sugges-
tion of Ulysses, son of Laertes, king of Ithaca, had taken an oath
1 From Tennyson's (Enone.
THE TROJAN WAR
279
that they would sustain her choice and avenge her cause if neces-
sary. She was living happily with Menelaiis when Paris, becoming
their guest, made love to her, and then, aided by Venus, persuaded
her to elope with him, and carried her to Troy. From this cause
arose the famous Trojan War, — the theme of the greatest poems
of antiquity, those of
Homer and Virgil,
Menelaiis called
upon the chieftains
of Greece to aid him
in recovering his wife.
They came forward
with a few exceptions.
Ulysses, for instance,
who had married a
cousin of Helen's,
Penelope, daughter of
Icarius, was happy in
his wife and child,
and loth to embark in
the troublesome affair.
Palamedes was sent to
urge him. But when
Palamedes arrived' at
Ithaca, Ulysses pre-
tended madness. He
yoked an ass and an
i
L?) ^^
^^
^S ^"^T^
m-T
Fig. 151.
ox together to the plow and began to sow salt. The ambassador, to
try him, placed the infant Telemachus before the plow, whereupon
the father, turning the plow aside, showed that his insanity was a
mere pretense. Being himself gained for the undertaking, Ulysses
lent his aid to bring in other reluctant chiefs, especially Achilles,
son of Peleus and Thetis. Thetis being herself one of the immor-
tals, and knowing that her son was fated to perish before Troy if
he went on the expedition, endeavored to prevent his going. She,
accordingly, sent him to the court of King Lycomedes of the island
of Sqros, and induced him to conceal himseli \tv •Cc«, ^jrfo civ ■*■
28o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
maiden among the daughters of the king. Hearing that the young
Achilles was there, Ulysses went disguised as a merchant to the
palace and offered for sale female ornaments, among which had
been placed some arms. Forgetting the part he had assumed,
Achilles handled the weapons and thereby betrayed himself to
Ulysses, who found no great difficulty in persuading him to disre-
gard his mother's counsels and join his countrymen in the war.
It seems that from early youth Paris had been reared in obscur-
ity, because there were forebodings that he would be the ruin of
the state. These forebodings appeared, at last, likely to be realized ;
for the Grecian armament now in preparation was the greatest that
had ever been fitted out. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother
of Menelaiis, was chosen commander in chief. Preeminent among
the warriors was the swift-footed Achilles. After him ranked his
cousin Ajax, the son of Telamon, gigantic in size and of great
courage, but dull of intellect ; Diomede, the son of Tydeus, second
only to Achilles in all the qualities of a hero ; Ulysses, famous for
sagacity ; and Nestor, the oldest of the Grecian chiefs, to whom
they all looked up for counsel.
But Troy was no feeble enemy. Priam the king, son of Laome-
don and brother of Tithonus and Hesione, was now old ; but he
had been a wise prince and had strengthened his state by good
government at home and powerful alliances with his neighbors.
By his wife Hecuba he had a numerous family ; but the principal
stay and support of his throne was his son Hector, one of the
noblest figures of antiquity. The latter had, from the first, a pre-
sentiment of the ruin of Troy, but still he persevered in heroic re-
sistance, though he by no means justified the wrong which brought
this danger upon his country. He was united in marriage with
the noble Andromache, and as husband and father his character
was not less admirable than as warrior. The principal leaders on
the side of the Trojans, beside Hector, were his relative, iEneas,
the son of Venus and Anchises, Deiphobus, Glaucus, and Sarpedon.
196. Iphigenia in Aulis. After two years of preparation, the
Greek fleet and army assembled in the port of Aulis in Boeotia.
Here Agamemnon, while hunting, killed a stag that was sacred to
Diana, The goddess in retribution visited the army with pestilence
THE TROJAN WAR 28 1
and produced a calm which prevented the ships from leaving the
port. Thereupon, Calchas the soothsayer announced that the wrath
of the virgin goddess
could only be appeased by
the sacrifice of a virgin,
and that none other but
the daughter of the offen-
der would be acceptable.
Agamemnon, however re-
luctant, submitted to the
inevitable and sent for his
daughter Iphigenia, under
the pretense that her mar-
riage to Achilles was to be
at once performed. But,
in the moment of sac-
rifice, Diana, relenting,
snatched the maiden away
and left a hind in her
place. Iphigenia, enveloped in a cloud, was conveyed to Tauris,
where Diana made her priestess of her temple,^
Iphigenia is represented as thus describing her feelings at the
moment of sacrifice :
" 1 was cut off from hope in that sad place,
Which men call'd Aulis in those iron years ;
My father held his hand upon his face ;
1, blinded with my tears,
" Still strove to speak : my voice was thick with sighs
As in a dream. Dimly 1 could descry
The stern black-bearded kings, with wolfish eyes
Waiting to see me die.
"The high masts flicker'd as they lay afloat;
The crowds, the temples, waver'd, and the shore;
The bright death quiver'd at the victim's throat ;
Touch'd; and I knew no more."*
The Sacrifice
irWomi
imong ihe Tauri.
282 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
197. ProtesHaiis and Laodamia. The wind now proving fair,
the fleet made sail and brought the forces to the coast of Troy.
The Trojans opposed their landing, and at the first onset one of
the noblest of the Greeks, Protesilaiis, fell by the hand of Hector.
This Protesilaiis had left at home his wife Laodamia (a niece of
Alcestis), — who was most tenderly attached to him. The story
runs that when the news of his death reached her, she implored
the gods for leave to converse with him if but for three hours.
The request was granted. Mercury led Protesilaiis back to the
upper world ; and when the hero died a second time Laodamia
died with him. It is said that the nymphs planted elm trees round
his grave, which flourished till they were high enough to command
a view of Troy, then withered away, giving place to fresh branches
that sprang from the roots.
Wordsworth has taken the story of Protesilaiis and Laodamia
for a poem invested with the atmosphere of the classics. The
oracle, according to the tradition, had declared that victory should
be the lot of that party from which should fall the first victim in
the war. The poet represents Protesilaiis, on his brief return to
earth, relating to Laodamia the story of his fate :
" The wished-for wind was given : — I then revolved
The oracle, upon the silent sea ;
And, if no worthier led the way, resolved
That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be
The foremost prow in pressing to the strand, —
Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand.
" Yet bitter, ofttimes bitter, was the pang
When of thy loss I thought, beloved Wife !
On thee too fondly did my memory hang,
And on the joys we shared in mortal life, —
The paths which we had trod — these fountains, flowers,
My new-planned cities, and unfinished towers.
" But should suspense permit the foe to cry,
' Behold they tremble ! — haughty their array,
Yet of their number no one dares to die ' ?
In soul I swept the indignity away :
Old frailties then recurred : — but lofty thought,
In act embodied, my deliverance wrought." . . ,
THE TROJAN WAR 283
. . . Upon the side
Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained)
A knot of spiry trees for ages grew
From out the tomb of him for whom she died ;
And ever, when such stature they had gained
That Ilium's walls were subject to their view,
The trees' tall summits withered at the sight ;
A constant interchange of growth and blight !
198. Homer's Iliad. The war continued without decisive result
for nine years. Then an event occurred which seemed likely to
prove fatal to the cause of the Greeks, — a quarrel between Achilles
and Agamemnon. It is at this point that the great poem of Homer,
the Iliad, begins.
Of this and the other epics from which the story is drawn an
account will be found in Chapter XXXII below; and a list of
the best English translations, in the corresponding sections of the
Commentary. What delight one may derive from reading the
Greek epics even in translation is nowhere better expressed than
in the following sonnet of John Keats, '* On First Looking into
Chapman's Homer " :
Much have I travel'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen ;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne :
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold :
— Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken ;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
199. The Wrath of Achilles. The Greeks, though unsuccessful
against Troy, had taken the neighboring and allied cities ; and in
the division of the spoil a female captive, by name ChryseXs,
daughter of Chiyses, priest of Apollo, had fallerv to t\\& '^?ct^ ^
284 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Agamemnon. Chnses came bearing the sacred emblems of his
office and begged the release of his daughter. Agamemnon re-
fused. Thereupon Chryses implored Apollo to afflict the Greeks
till they should be forced to jield their prey. Apollo granted the
prayer of his priest and sent such pestilence upon the Grecian
camp, that a council was called to deliberate how to allay the wrath
of the gods and avert the plague. Achilles boldly chared the mis-
fortunes upon Agamemnon as caused by his withholding Chrysels,
Agamemnon, in anger, consented, thereupon, to relinquish his
captive, but demanded that Achilles should yield to him in her
r BRIsE'is
lief by Thoiwaldaen
stead Brisels, a maiden who had fallen to that hero's share in the
division of the spoil. Achilles submitted, but declared that he
would take no further part in the war, — withdrew his forces
from the general camp and avowed his intention of returning to
Greece.
200. The Enlistment of the Gods. The gods and goddesses inter-
ested themselves as much in this famous siege as did the parties
themselves. It was well known in heaven that fate had decreed
the fall of Troy, if her enemies only persevered. Yet there was
room for chance sufficient to excite by turns the hopes and fears
of the powers above who took part with either side. Juno and
Minerva, in consequence of the slight put upon their charms by
Paris, were hostile to the Trojans ; Venus for the opposite cause
THE TROJAN WAR 285
favored them ; she enlisted, also, her admirer Mars on the same
side. Neptune favored the Greeks. Apollo was neutral, sometimes
taking one side, sometimes the other. Jove himself, though he
loved Priam, exercised a degree of impartiality, — not, however,
without exceptions.
201. Thetis mtercedes for Achilles. Resenting Jthft injury ,dp.ae
by Agamemnon to her son, TJietis, the siLver-fppted^J^pair^
]ove\ palace^ and^esought Jiim to grant success, to the Trojan
arms and go makejhe Greeks repent of their injustice to Achilles..
The father of the gods, wavering^af fifst^ finally sighed and con-
sented, saying, '* Go thou now, but look to it that Juno see thee
not, for oft she taunts me that I aid the Trojan cause." Vain
precaution : the jealous queen had seen only too well, and quickly
she confronted the Thunderer with her suspicions, —
" Fateful favor to Achilles, hast thou granted now I trow ! "
said she.
Zeus that rolls the clouds of heaven, her addressing answered then :
" Moonstruck ! thou art ever trowing; never I escape thy ken.
After all, it boots thee nothing ; leaves thee of my heart the less, —
So thou hast the worser bargain. What if I the fact confess ?
It was done because I willed it. Hold thy place — my word obey,
Lest if I come near, and on thee these unconquered hands I lay,
All the gods that hold Olympus naught avail thee here to-day." ^
202. Agamemnon calls a Council. In the events which immedi-
ately follow we are introduced to the more important human per-
sonages on both sides. To begin with, Agamemnon, king of men,
^^^ewf^d hy_fL jjr^^ sf^n^ ^y J^pit^r, ^r^lls ^ ^nnnril of .the_ Greeks
in which, desiring to arouse them to fresh onslaught upon the
Trojans, he tests their patience first by depicting the joys of the
return home to Greece, and nearly overreaches himself in his cun-
ning ; for had it not been for the wise Nestor, king of sandy Pylos,
and Ulysses of many devices, peer of Jove in wisdom, the common
soldiers, fired with hope of viewing their dear native land and
wives and little children once more, would have launched the ships
and sailed forthwith. Among the murmuring host of those who
1 Gladstone's Translations from the Iliad.
286 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
clamor for retreat the leader is Thersites, uncontrolled of speech,
full of disorderly words, striving idly against the chieftains, aiming
ever to turn their authority into ridicule. He is the one ludicrous
character of the Iliad, this boaster and scandalmonger, sneering
and turbulent of tongue :
His figure such as might his soul proclaim ;
One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame ;
His mountain shoulders half his breast o'erspread,
Thin hairs bestrewed his long misshapen head.
Spleen to mankind his envious heart possest,
And much he hated all, but most the best.
Ulysses or Achilles still his theme;
But royal scandal his delight supreme.^
Him Ulysses hearing rebukes, raising his scepter to strike :
" Peace, factious monster, bom to vex the state,
With wrangling talents formed for foul debate. ...
Have we not known thee, slave of all our host,
The man who acts the least, upbraids the most? ..."
He said, and cowering as the dastard bends.
The weighty scepter on his back descends :
On the round bunch the bloody tumors rise ;
The tears spring starting from his haggard eyes :
Trembling he sat, and, shrunk in abject fears.
From his wild visage wiped the scalding tears.^
The revolt is thus stayed. A banquet of the Greek chieftains
is then held, merely of the greatest — Nestor, Idomeneus of Crete,
Ajax the son of Telamon and cousin of Achilles, and Ajax the less,
son of Oifleus, Ulysses, also, and Agamemnon himself. Menelaiis
comes, unbid but not unwelcome. Sacrifices are offered, but in
vain ; Jove heeds them not. Finally, a muster of the Greek troops,
by nations and by kings, is determined upon ; and so the army is
set in array.
203. Paris plays the Champion. Likewise the army of the
Trojans ; and battle is about to be joined when forth from the
Trojan ranks steps Paris himself to challenge some champion of
the opposing host to single combat, — the beauteous Paris,
1 Iliad, 2 (Pope's translation).
THE TROJAN WAR 287
In form a god ! The panther's speckled hide
Flowed o'er his armor with an easy pride, —
His bended bow across his shoulders flung,
His sword beside him negligently hung,
Two pointed spears he shook with gallant grace,
And dared the bravest of the Grecian race.^
Him, Menelaiis whom he had betrayed, Menelaiis loved of Mars,
raging like a lion, swift espies and, leaping from his chariot,
hastens to encounter. But Paris, smitten with a sense of his own
treachery, fearful, trembling, pale at sight of the avenger, betakes
himself to his heels and hides in the thick of the forces behind.
Upbraided, however, by the generous Hector, noblest of Priam's
sons, the handsome Trojan recovers his self-possession and con-
sents to meet Menelaiis in formal combat between the opposing
hosts : Helen and the wealth she brought to be the prize ; and,
thus, the long war to reach its termination. The Greeks accept
the proposal, and a truce is agreed upon that sacrifices may be
made on either side for victory, and the duel proceed.
204. Helen surveys the Grecian Host. Meantime, Iris, the god-
dess of the rainbow, summons Helen to view the impending duel.
At her loom in the Trojan palace the ill-starred daughter of Leda
is sitting, weaving in a golden web her own sad story. At memory
of her former husband's love, her home, her parents, the princess
drops a tear; then, softly sighing, turns her footsteps to the
Scaean gate. No word is said of her matchless beauty, but what it
was Homer shows us by its effect. For as she approaches the tower
where aged Priam and his gray-haired chieftains sit, these cry, —
" No wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms ;
What winning graces ! what majestic mien !
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.
Yet hence, oh Heaven ! convey that fatal face,
And from destruction save the Trojan race." *
— Words reechoed by our English Marlowe, two thousand years
Was this the face that launched ia thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium ?
1 Iliad, 3 (Pope's translation).
288 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. —
Her lips suck forth my soul : see, where it flies !
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again !
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena. . . .
Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars ;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appeared to hapless Semele ; . . .
And none but thou shalt be my paramour ! ^
Priam, receiving his daughter-in-law tenderly, inquires of her
the names of one and another of the Greeks moving on the plain
below. —
" Who, that
Around whose brow such martial graces shine,
So tall, so awful, and almost divine ? *' ^
**The son of Atreus," answers she, shamefacedly. ** Agamem-
non, king of kings, my brother once, before my days of shame."
" What 's he whose arms lie scattered on the plain ?
Broad is his breast, his shoulders larger spread.
Though great Atrides overtops his head.
Nor yet appear his care and conduct small ;
From rank to rank he moves and orders all." ^
"That is Ulysses," replies Helen, "of the barren isle oi
Ithaca ; but his fame for wisdom fills the earth."
Old Antenor, seated by Priam's side, thereupon recalls the mod-
esty and the restrained but moving eloquence of the wondrous son
of Laertes.
The king then asked, as yet the camp he viewed,
" What chief is that, with giant strength endued ;
Whose brawny shoulders, and whose swelling chest,
And lofty stature, far exceed the rest ? " ^
" That is Ajax the great," responds the beauteous queen, " him-
self a host, bulwark of the Achaeans." And she points out Idome-
neus, also, the godlike king of Crete ; then scans the array for her
1 Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus. 2 iljad, 3 (Pope's translation).
THE TROJAN WAR 289
own dear brothers Castor and Pollux ; — in vain, for them the
life-giving earth held fast there in Lacedaemon, their native land.
205. Menelaiis defeats Paris. Now from both sides sacrifices
have been made to Jove, avenger of oaths, with prayer for victory
and vow of fidelity to the contract made. But Jove vouchsafes
not yet fulfillment. The lists are measured out by Hector and
Ulysses. The duel is on. Paris throws his spear : it strikes, but
fails to penetrate the shield of Menelaiis. Menelaiis then breaks
his blade upon the helmet of the Trojan, seizes him by the horse-
hair crest, and drags him toward the Grecian lines. But Aphrodite
touches the chin strap of Paris' headpiece so that it breaks and
leaves the futile helmet in the victor's hand. Then, wrapping her
favorite in a mist, the goddess bears him from the pursuit of
the furious Menelaiis, and, laying him safe in Helen's chamber,
summons his mistress, who first upbraids, then soothes him with
her love.
The Greeks claim the victory, and with justice. The Trojans,
then and there, would have yielded Helen and her wealth, and
the fate of Troy might have been averted, had it not been for the
machinations of the goddesses, Juno and Minerva. These could
not bear that the hated city should thus escape. Prompted by the;
insidious urging of Minerva, one of the Trojans, Pandarus. breaks
the truce ; he shoots his arrow full at the heart of the unsuspect-
ing Menelaiis. Minerva, of course, deflects the fatal shaft. But
the treachery has accomplished its purpose ; the war is reopened
with fresh bitterness.
206. The Two Days' Battle. The battle which then begins lasts
for two whole days. In its progress we witness a series of single
combats. Pandarus the archer wounds Diomede, the son of Tydeus.
He in turn, raging over the plain, fells Pandarus with his spear
and crushes ^neas, Priam's valiant kinsman, to his knees with a
great stone, yenus shrouds her fallen son in her shining veil
and will rescue him. But Diomedes, clear of vision, spies her out
and drives liis pointed _spear against heLhand^^grazing the palm
-oLit. Out leaps the ichor, life-stream of the blessed gods, and the
goddess shrieking drops her burden and flees from the jeering
Diomede ; — nay, mounts even to Olympus wK^tt.^ ^CiVkkw^xsv'^iafc
290 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
arms of her mother, Dione, she finds solace of her pain, and
straightway turns to hopes of vengeance, ^neas, meantime, is
wrapped by Phoebus Apollo in a dusky cloud and borne aloof to
that god's temple, where Diana and Latona heal him.
To Diomede still breathing slaughter, the god of war himself.
Mars, now appears in form of a Thracian captain, opposing him
and stirring Hector and the swiftly recovered ^Eneas and the god-
like Sarpedon against the Greeks. And the Greeks give back, but
the keen eye of Diomede pierces the disguise of the War-god,
and he shouts a warning to his comrades. Then Minerva de-
scends to where Diomede, the son of Tydeus, is resting beside
his chariot, and she spurs him afresh to the fray. " Thou joy of
my heart," says she, *' fear thou neither Mars nor any other of the
immortals, for I shall help thee mightily." So she takes the place
of his charioteer, and together they drive upon the War-god. And
that one cannot come at the son of Tydeus to strike him down,
because of the ward that Minerva vouchsafes. But, for his part,
Diomede strikes his spear against the nethermost belly of Mars
and wounds him, rending his fair skin ; and he plucks forth
the spear again. Then brazen Mars bellows loud as nine or ten
thousand soldiers all at once ; and, like Venus before him, betakes
himself to Olympus. There, complaining to Jove, he receives
stem reprimand for his intolerant and hateful spirit, stirring men
ever to strife, — **like thine own mother Juno, after whom, not
after me, thou takest." Thus, the father of the gods ; and he
makes an end, and bids Paean, the family physician, heal him.
Diomedes, still bearing down upon the Trojans, is about to fight
with a young warrior when, struck by his appearance, he inquires
his name. It is Glaucus, and the youth is grandson of the noble
Bellerophon. Then Diomede of the loud war cry is glad and strikes
his spear into the earth and declines to fight. '* For lo," says he,
'*our grandfathers were guest-friends, and guest-friends are we.
Why slay each other ? There are multitudes of Trojans for me to
slay, and for thee Achaeans in multitude, if thou canst. Let us
twain rather exchange arms as a testimony of our good faith."
And this they do ; and Diomede gets the best of the bargain, his
"-nior being worth but nine oxen, and young Glaucus* five score.
THE TROJAN WAR
291
207. Hector and Andromache. The Trojans being still pushed
nearer to their own walls, Hector, bravest of Priam's sons, returns
to the city to urge the women to prayer, and to carry the loitering
Paris back with him to the defense. Here he meets his brave mother
Hecuba, and then the fair Helen ; but most to our purpose and his,
his wife, the white-armed Andromache, the noblest of the women
of the Iliad, for whom he has searched in vain.
But when he had passed through the great city and was come to the Seaean
gates, whereby he was minded to issue upon the plain, then came his dear-won
wife, running to meet him, even Andromache, daughter of great-hearted
Fig. 154. Hector's Farewell
From the relief by Thorwaldsen
EeiJon. ... So she met him now ; and with her went the handmaid bearing
in her bosom the tender boy, the little child, Hector's loved son, like unto a '
beautiful star. Him Hector called Scamandrius, but all the folk Astyanax,
" defender of the city." So now he smiled and gazed at his boy silently, and
Andromache stood by his side wiping, and clasped her hand in his, and
spake and called upon his name. " Dear my lord, this thy hardihood will undo
thee, neither hast thou any pity for thine infant boy, nor for hapless me that
soon shall be thy widow ', for soon will the Acha;ans all set upon thee and slay
thee. But it were better for me to go down to the grave it 1 lose thee; for
nevermore will any comfort be mine, when once thou, even thou, hast met thy
fate, — but only sorrow. Moreover I have no father, now, nor lady mother.
. . . And the seven brothers that were mine within our halls, all these on the
selfsame day went within the house of Hades ; for fleet-footed, goodly Achilles
Blew them all amid their kine of trailing gait and while-factd shee^. > , ,
292 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Nay, Hector, thou art to me father and lady mother, yea and brother, even
as thou art my goodly husband. Come now, have pity and abide here upon
the tower, lest thou make thy child an orphan and thy wife a widow." . . .
Then great Hector of the glancing helm answered her: " Surely I take thought
for all these things, my wife ; but 1 have very sore shame of the Trojans and
Trojan dames with trailing robes, if like a coward I shrink away from battle.
Moreover mine own soul forbiddeth me, seeing I have learnt ever to be valiant
and fight in the forefront of the Trojans, winning my father's great glory and
mine own. Yea of a surety, I know this in heart and soul ; the day shall
come for holy Ilios to be laid low,, and Priam and the folk of Priam of the
good ashen spear. Yet doth the anguish of the Trojans hereafter not so much
trouble me, neither Hecuba's own, neither king Priam's, neither my brethren's,
the many and brave that shall fall in the dust before their foemen, as doth
thine anguish in the day when some mail-clad Achaean shall lead thee weeping,
and rob thee of the light of freedom. . . . But me in death may the heaped-up
earth be covering, ere I hear thy crying and thy carrying into captivity." *
So spoke the great-hearted hero, and stretched his arms out to
take his little boy. But
The babe clung aying to his nurse's breast,
Scared at the dazzling helm, and nodding crest
With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled,
And Hector hasted to relieve his child, —
The glittering terrors from his brows unbound
And placed the beaming helmet on the ground.
Then kissed the child, and, lifting high in air,
Thus to the gods, preferred a father's prayer :
" O thou ! whose glory fills the ethereal throne,
And all ye deathless powers ! protect my son !
Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown.
To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown,
Against his country's foes the war to wage,
And rise the Hector of the future age !
So when, triumphant from successive toils
Of heroes slain, he bears the reeking spoils,
Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim
And say, * This chief transcends his father's fame ' :
While, pleased, amidst the general shouts of Troy,
His mother's conscious heart o'erflows \*ith joy." *
1 Iliad, 6. 390 et seq. (Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation).
3 Iliad, 6, 470-490 (Pope^s translation).
THE TROJAN WAR 293
So prayed he, the glorious Hector, foreboding of the future, but
little thinking that, when he himself was slain and the city sacked,
his starlike son should be cast headlong to death from Troy's
high towers, and his dear wife led into captivity as he had
dreaded, indeed, and by none other than Neoptolemus, the son of
his mortal foe, Achilles. But now Hector laid the boy in the arms
of his wife, and she, smiling tearfully, gathered him to her fragrant
bosom ; and her husband pitied her, and caressed her with his
hand, and bade her farewell, saying:
" Andromache ! my souPs far better part,
Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart?
No hostile hand can antedate my doom,
Till fate condemns me to the silent tomb.
Fixed is the term to all the race of earth ;
• And such the hard condition of our birth,
No force can then resist, no flight can save ;
All sink alike, the fearful and the brave.
No more — but hasten to thy tasks at home,
There guide the spindle, and direct the loom ;
Me glory summons to the martial scene,
The field of combat is the sphere for men.
Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim.
The first in danger, as the first in fame.** ^
He took up his horsehair crested helmet ; and she departed to
her home, oft looking back and letting fall big tears, thinking that
he would no more come back from battle.
208. Neptune aids the Discouraged Greeks. But the end was
not to be so soon. F^^^OS retl^rniri£L.tfLth/!-fiddj r^allpngpH th^
bravest of the Greeks tQ-j^omhatr Nine accepted the challenge ;
hut the-lot fell upon Ajax, the spn of Telanion. The duel lasted
till night, with deeds of valor on both sides ; and the heroes parted,
each testifying to his foeman's worth. The next day a truce was
declared for the burning of the dead ; but, soon after, the conflict
was renewed, and before the might of Hector and his troops the
Greeks were driven back to their trenches.
Then Agamemnon, king of men, called another council of his
wisest and bravest chiefs and, grievously discouraged, proposed,
1 Iliad, 6 (Pope's traaslatioTiV
494 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
» this time in earnest, that they reembark and sail home to Greece,^
I In the debate that ensued Nestor advised that an embassy should
j be sent to Achilles persuading him to return to the field ; and that
Agamemnon should yield the maiden, the cause of dispute, with
, ample gifts to atone for the wrong he had done. Agamemnon
; assented ; and Ulysses, Ajax, and Phoenix were sent to cany to
. Achilles the penitent message. They performed that duty, but
Achilles was deaf to their entreaties. He positively refused to
return to the attack and persisted in his determination to embark
for Greece without delay.
Meanwhile the Greeks, having constructed a rampart around
their ships, were now, instead of besieging Troy, in a manner
themselves besieged, within their rampart. The next day after the
unsuccessful embassy to Achilles, another battle was fought, in
which Agamemnon raged mightily with his spear till, wounded, he
was forced to retire to the hollow ships ; and Ulysses, too, bravely
warring, had a narrow escape with life.^ Then the Trojans, favored
by Jove, succeeded in forcing a passage through the Grecian ram-
part and were about to set fire to the ships. But Neptune, see,ng
the Greeks hard pressed, came to their rescue.* Appearing in the
form of Calchas the prophet, he raised the ardor of the warriors
to such a pitch that they forced the Trojans to give way. Here
>S}iad,g. *lliul, II. * llud, i].
THE TROJAN WAR 295
Ajax, son of Telamon, performed prodigies of valor. Bearing his '
massy shield and "shaking his far-shadowing spear," he encoun-
tered Hector.^ The Greek shouted defiance, to which Hector I
replied, and hurled his lance at the huge warrior. It was well 1
aimed and struck Ajax where the belts that bore his sword and
shield crossed each other on the breast, but the double guard pre- \
vented its penetrating, and it fell harmless. Then Ajax, seizing a. I
huge stone, one of those that served to prop the ships, hurled it /
(Right section)
at Hector. It struck him near the neck and stretched him on the
plain. His followers instantly seized him and bore him off stunned
and wounded,
209. Jupiter inspirits the Trojans. While Neptune was thus
aiding the Greeks and driving back the Trojans, Jupiter saw
i.othing of what was going on, for his attention had been drawn
from the field by the wiles of Juno.* That goddess had arrayed
herself in all her charms, and to crown all had borrowed of Venus
her girdle, the Cestus, which enhanced the wearer's charms to
such a degree that they were irresistible. So prepared, Juno had
joined her husband, who sat on Olympus watching the battle.
When he beheld her, the fondness of his early love revived and,
forgetting the contending armies and all other affairs of state, he
gave himself up to her and let the battle go as it would.
1 Iliad, 14, 400-440. ■ Iliad, \^, \V>-1SO.
3^ THE CLASSIC MYTHS
But this oblivion did not continue long. When, upon turning
his eyes downward, the cloud-compeller beheld Hector stretched,
almost lifeless, on the plain, he angrily dismissed Juno, command-
ing her to send Ifis and Apollo to him.^ The former bore a per-
emptory message to Neptune, ordering him to quit the contest.
Apollo was diipatclii^d to Ii^liI Hector's biuiata tind tu inspirit his
heart. These orders were obeyed with such speed that while the
batde was still raging. Hector returned to the field and Neptune
betook himself to his own dominions,
210. Achilles and Patroclus. An arrow from the bow of Paris
had wounded Machaon, son of yEsculapius, a brave warrior, who,
having inherited his father's art, was of great value to the Greeks
as their surgeon. Nestor, taking Machaon in liis chariot, conveyed
him from the field. As they passed the ships of Achilles, that
licro, looking over the battle, saw the chariot of Nestor, and rec-
ognized the old chief, but could not discern who the wounded war-
rior was. Calling Patroclus, his companion and dearest friend, he
sent him to Nestor's tent to inquire. Patroclus, performing the
behest, saw Machaon wounded and, having told the cause of his
coming, would have hastened away, but Nestor detained him to
teil him the extent of the Grecian calamities. He reminded him
also how, at the time (if the departure for Troy, Achilles and him-
self had been charged by their respective sires : the one to aspire
to the highest pitch of glory ; the other, as the elder, to keep
THE TROJAN WAR 297
watch over his friend and to guide his inexperience. " Now,"
said Nestor, ** is the time for such guidance. If the gods so please,
thou mayest win Achilles back to the common cause ; but if not,
let him at least send his soldiers to the field, and come thou, Patro-
clus, clad in his armor. Perhaps the \ery sight of it may' drive
back the Trojans." ^
211. Patroclus in the Armor of Achilles. Patroclus, strongly
moved by this address, hastened to his friend, revolving in his
mind what he had seen and heard.^ He told the prince the sad
condition of affairs at the camp of their late associates ; Diomede,
Ulysses, Agamemnon, Machaon, all wounded, the rampart broken
down, the enemy among the ships preparing to bum them and
thus to cut off all means of return to Greece. While they spoke,
the flames burst forth from one of the ships. Achilles, at the sight,
relented so far as to intrust Patroclus with the Myrmidons for the
onslaught and to lend him his armor that he might thereby strike
the more terror into the minds of the Trojans. Without delay the
soldiers were marshaled, Patroclus put on the radiant armor,
mounted the chariot of Achilles, and led forth the men ardent for
battle. But before his friend went, Achilles strictly charged him
to be content with repelling the foe. ** Seek not," said he, ** to
press the Trojans without me, lest thou add still more to the dis-
grace already mine." Then exhorting the troops to do their best,
he dismissed them full of ardor to the fight.
Patroclus and his Myrmidons at once plunged into the contest
where it raged hottest. At the sight of them the joyful Grecians
shouted, and the ships reechoed the acclaim ; but the Trojans,
beholding the well-known armor, struck with terror, looked every-
where for refuge. First those who had got possession of the ship
and set it on fire allowed the Grecians to retake it and extinguish
the flames. Then the rest fled in dismay. Ajax, Menelaus, and
the two sons of Nestor performed prodigies of valor. Hector was
forced to turn his horses' heads and retire from the enclosure,
leaving his men encumbered in the fosse to escape as they could.
Patroclus drove all before him, slaying many ; nor did one dare to
make a stand against him.
1 Iliad, 11^ 2 Iliad, 16.
*'oH yoi/ ^A9ry MibCH"
fjSgS THE CLASSIC MYTHS
212. The Deaths of Sarpedon and Patroclus. At last the grand-
son of Bellerophon, Sarpedon, son of Jove and Laodamia, ven-
tured to oppose the Greek warrior. The Olympian looked down
upon his son and would have snatched him from the fate impend-
ing, But Juno hinted that if he did so, the other inhabitants of
heaven might be induced to interpose in like manner whenever any
of their offspring were endan-
gered,— -an argument to which
Jove yielded. Sarpedon threw
his spear, but missed Patroclus ;
the spear of the Greek, on the
other hand, pierced Sarpedon 's
breast, and he fell, calling to his
friends to save his body from
the foe. Then a furious con-
test arose for the corpse. The
Greeks succeeded in stripping
Sarpedon of his armor, but
Jove would not suffer the body
to be dishonored. By his com-
mand Apollo snatched it from
the midst of the combatants
and committed it to the care of
the twin brothers Death and
Sleep, By them it was trans-
ported to Lycia, Sarpedon 's
native land, and there received
due funeral rites.
Thus far Patroclus had succeeded to the utmost in repelling the
foe and relieving his countrymen, but now came a change of for-
tune. Hector, borne in his chariot, confronted him. Patroclus
threw a vast stone at the Trojan, which missed its aim, but smote
Cebriones, the charioteer, and felled him from the car. Hector
leaped from the chariot to rescue his friend, and Patroclus also
descended to complete his victory. Thus the two heroes met face
to face. At this decisive moment the poet, as if reluctant to give
Hector the glory, records that Ph(ebus A|wl!o, taking part
THE TROJAN WAR 299
Patroclus, struck the helmet from his head and the lance from his
hand. At the same moment an obscure Trojan wounded him in
the back, and Hector pressing forward pierced him with his spear.
He fell mortally wounded.
Then arose a tremendous conflict for the body of Patroclus ; but
his armor was at once taken possession of by Hector, who, retiring
a short distance, divested himself of his own mail, put on that of
Achilles, then returned to the fight.^ Ajax and Menelaiis defended
the body, and Hector and his bravest warriors struggled to capture
it. The battle still raged with equal fortune, when Jove enveloped
the whole face of heaven in a cloud. The lightning flashed, the
thunder roared, and Ajax, looking round for some one whom he
might dispatch to Achilles to tell him of the death of his friend
and of the imminent danger of his remains falling into the hands
of the enemy, could see no suitable messenger. In desperation
he exclaimed :
" Father of heaven and earth ! deliver thou
Achaia's host from darkness ; clear the skies ;
Give day ; and, since thy sovereign will is such,
Destruction with it ; but, oh, give us day ! " *
Jupiter heard the prayer and dispersed the clouds. Ajax sent
Antilochus to Achilles with the intelligence of Patroclus* death
and of the conflict raging for his remains ; and the Greeks at last
succeeded in bearing off the body to the ships, closely pursued by
Hector and ^neas and the rest of the Trojans.
213. The Remorse of Achilles. Achilles heard the fate of his
friend with such distress that Antilochus feared for a while lest he
might destroy himself.^ His groans reached the ears of Thetis,
far down in the deeps of ocean where she abode, and she hastened
to inquire the cause. She found him overwhelmed with self-re-
proach that he had suffered his friend to fall a victim to his re-
sentment. His only consolation was the hope of revenge. He
would fly instantly in search of Hector. But his mother reminded
him that he was now without armor and promised, if he would
but wait till the morrow, to procure for him a suit of armor from
1 Iliad, 17. 2 Cowper's translation. The lines are often c^otad, ^ >X\^^^^,
1
300 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Vulcan more than equal to that he had lost. He consented, and
Thetis immediately repaired to Vulcan's palace. She found him
busy at his forge, making tripods for his own use, so artfully con-
structed that they moved forward of their own accord when wanted,
and retired again when dismissed. On hearing the request of
Thetis, Vulcan immediately laid aside his work and hastened to
comply with her wishes. He fabricated a splendid suit of armor
for Achilles ; first a shield adorned with elaborate devices, of which
a noble description is given by Homer, then a helmet crested with
gold, then a corselet and greaves of impenetrable temper, all per-
fectly adapted to the hero's form, and of consummate workman-
ship. The suit was made in one night, and Thetis, receiving it,
descended to earth and laid it at Achilles' feet at the dawn of day.
214. The Reconciliation of Agamemnon and Achilles. The first
glow of pleasure that Achilles had felt since the death of Patro-
clus was at the sight of this splendid armor.^ And now arrayed
in it, he went forth to the camp, calling the chiefs to council.
When the leaders were assembled, Achilles addressed them. Re-
nouncing his displeasure against Agamemnon and bitterly lament-
ing the miseries that had resulted from it, he called on them to
proceed at once to the field. Agamemnon made a suitable reply,
laying the blame on Ate, the goddess of infatuation ; and there-
upon complete reconcilement took place between the heroes.
Then Achilles went forth to battle, heartened by the inspiration
of Minerva and filled with a rage and thirst for vengeance that
made him irresistible. As he mounted his chariot, one of his im-
mortal coursers was, strange to say, endowed suddenly with speech
from on high and, breaking into prophecy, warned the hero of his
approaching doom. But, nothing daunted, Achilles pressed upon
the foe. The bravest warriors fled before him or fell by his lance.^
Hector, cautioned by Apollo, kept aloof ; but the god, assuming
the form of one of Priam's sons, Lycaon, urged ^Eneas to en-
counter the terrible warrior. iEneas, though he felt himself un-
equal, did not decline the combat. He hurled his spear with all
his force against the shield, the work of Vulcan. The spear pierced
two plates of the shield, but was stopped in the third. Achilles
1 Iliad, 19. * Iliad, 20.
THE TROJAN WAR 301
threw his spear with better success. It pierced through the shield
of iEneas, but glanced near his shoulder and made no wound.
Then iEneas, seizing a stone, such as two men of modem times
could hardly lift, was about to throw it, — and Achilles, with sword
drawn, was about to rush upon him, — when Neptune, looking out
upon the contest, had pity upon iEneas, who was sure to have the
worst of it. The god, consequently, spread a cloud between the
combatants and, lifting the Trojan from the ground, bore him over
the heads of warriors and steeds to the rear of the battle. Achilles,
when the mist cleared away, looked round in vain for his adver-
sary, and acknowledging the prodigy, turned his arms against other
champions. But none dared stand before him ; and Priam from
his city walls beheld the whole army in full flight toward the city.
He gave command to open wide the gates to receive the fugitives,
and to shut them as soon as the Trojans should have passed, lest
the enemy should enter likewise. But Achilles was so close in
pursuit that that would have been impossible if Apollo had not, in
the form of Agenor, Priam's son, first encountered the swift-
footed hero, then turned in flight, and taken the way apart from
the city. Achilles pursued, and had chased his supposed victim
far from the walls before the god disclosed himself.^
215. The Death of Hector. But when the rest had escaped into
the town Hector stood without, determined to await the combat.
His father called to him from the walls, begging him to retire nor
tempt the encounter. His mother, Hecuba, also besought him, but
all in vain. ** How can I," said he to himself, "by whose com-
mand the people went to this day's contest where so many have
fallen, seek refuge for myself from a single foe ? Or shall I offer
to yield up Helen and all her treasures and ample of our own be-
side? Ah no! even that is too late. He would not hear me
through, but slay me while I spoke." While he thus numnated,
Achilles approached, terrible as Mars, his armor flashing lightning
as he moved. At that sight Hector's heart failed him and he fled
Achilles swiftly pursued. They ran, still keeping near the walls,
till they had thrice encircled the city. As often as Hector ap-
proached the walls Achilles intercepted him and forced him to
1 Iliad, 21.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
keep out in a wider circle. But
Apollo sustained Hector's strength
and would not let him sink in weari-
ness. Then Pallas, assuming the
fomi of Deiphobus, Hector's bravest
brother, appeared suddenly at his
side. Hector saw him with delight,
and thus strengthened, stopped his
flight, and, turning to meet AchDIes,
threw his spear. It struck the shield
of Achilles and bounded back. He
turned to receive another from the
hand of Deiphobus, but Deiphobus
was gone. Then Hector understood
his doom and said, "Alas ! it is plain
this is my hour to die ! I thought
Deiphobus at band, but Pallas de-
ceived me, and he is still in Troy.
But I will not fall inglorious." So
saying he drew his falchion from his
side and rushed at once to combat.
Achilles, secure behind his shield,
waited the approach of Hector.
When he came within reach of his
spear, Achilles, choosing with his eye
a vulnerable part where the armor
leaves the neck uncovered, aimed
his bpear at that part, and Hector
fell death wounded Feebly he said,
Spjrc my body I Let my parents
ransom it and let me receive funeral
rites from the sons and daughters
of Tro\ To w hich Achilles replied,
Do^ nanit not ransom nor pity to
me, on whom \ou have brought such
dire distress No' trust me, nought
hhall sd\e th} cartass from the dogs.
THE TROJAN WAR 303
Though twenty ransoms and thy weight in gold were offered, I
should refuse it all," '
216. Achilles drags the Body of Hector. So saying, the son of
Peleus stripped the body of its armor, and, fastening cords to the
feet, tied them behind his chariot, leaving the body to trail along
the ground. Then mounting the chariot he lashed the steeds and
so dragged the body to and fro before the city. No words can tell
the grief of Priam and Hecuba at this sight. His people could
scarce restrain the aged king from rushing forth. He threw him-
self in the dust and besought them each by name to let him pass.
Hecuba's distress was not less violent. The citizens stood round
them weeping. The sound of the mourning reached the ears of
Andromache, the wife of Hector, as she sat among her maidens
at work ; and anticipating evil she went forth to the wall. When
she saw the horror there presented, she would have thrown her-
self headlong from the wall, but fainted and fell into the arms of
her maidens. Recovering, she bewailed her fate, picturing to
herself her country ruined, herself a captive, and her son, the
youthful Astyanax, dependent for his bread on the charity of
strangers.
After Achilles and the Greeks had thus taken their revenge
on the slayer of Patroclus, they busied themselves in paying due
304
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
funeral rites to their friend,* A pile was erected, and the body
bumed with due solemnity. Then ensued games of strength and
skill, chariot races, wrestling, boxing, and archery. Later, the
chiefs sat down to the funeral banquet, and finally retired to rest
But Achilles partook neither of the feast nor of sleep. The recol-
lection of his lost friend kept him awake, — the memory of their
companionship in toil and dangers, in battle or on the perilous
deep. Before the earliest dawn he left his tent, and joining to his
chariot his swift steeds, he fastened Hector's body to be dragged
behind. Twice he dragged him round the tomb of Patroclus, leav-
ing him at length stretched in the dust. But Apollo would nt4
permit the body to be torn or disfigured with all this abuse ; he
preserved it free from taint or defilement.'
While Achilles indulged his wrath in thus disgracing Hector,
Jupiter in pity summoned Thetis to his presence. Bidding her
prevail on Achilles to restore the body of Hector to the Trojans,
he sent Iris to encourage Priam to beg of Achilles the body of his
son. Iris delivered her message, and Priam prepared to obey.
He opened his treasuries and took out rich garments and cloths,
with ten talents in gold and two splendid tripods and a golden cup
of matchless workmanship. Then he called to his sons and bade
them draw forth his litter and place in it the various articles de-
signed for a ransom to Achilles. When all was ready, the old
king with a single companion as aged as himself, the herald
1 Iliad, 2].
> Iliad, 14, ij.
THE TROJAN WAR ^o$
Idaeus, drove forth from the gates, parting there with Hecuba
his queen, and ali his friends, who lamented him as going to
certain death.
217. Priam in the Tent of Achilles.^ But Jupiter, beholding
with compassion the venerable king, sent Mercury to be his guide
and protector. Assuming the form of a young warrior. Mercury
presented himself to the aged couple ; and, when at the sight of
him they hesitated whether to fly or yield, approaching he grasped
Priam's hand and offered to be their guide to Achilles' tent. Priam
gladly accepted his ser\dce, and Mercury, mounting the carriage,
assumed the reins and conveyed them to the camp. Then having
cast the guards into a heavy sleep, he introduced Priam into the
tent where Achilles sat, attended by two of his warriors. The aged
king threw himself at the feet of Achilles and kissed those terrible
hands which had destroyed so many of his sons. ** Think, O
Achilles," he sa'd, *' of thine own father, full of days like me, and
trembling on the gloomy verge of life. Even now, mayhap, some
neighbor chief oppresses him and there is none at hand to succor
him in his distress. Yet, knowing that Achilles lives, he doubt-
less still rejoices, hoping that one day he shall see thy face again.
But me no comfort cheers, whose bravest sons, so late the flower of
Ilium, all have fallen. Yet one I had, one more than all the rest
the strength of my age, whom fighting for his country thou hast
slain. His body I come to redeem, bringing inestimable ransom
with me. Achilles ! reverence the gods ! recollect thy father ! for
his sake show compassion to me ! " These words moved Achilles,
and he wept, remembering by turns his absent father and his lost
friend. Moved with pity of Priam's silver locks and beard, he
raised him from the earth and spake : ** Priam, I know that thou
hast reached this place conducted by some god, for without aid
divine no mortal even in his prime of youth had dared the attempt.
I grant thy request, for I am moved thereto by the manifest will
of Jove." So saying he arose, went forth with his two friends, and
unloaded of its charge the litter, leaving two mantles and a robe
for the covering of the body. This they placed on the litter and
spread the garments over it, that not unveiled it should be borne
1 Iliad, 24, 330-804.
3o6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
back to Troy. Then Achilles dismissed the old king, having first
pledged himself to a truce of twelve days for the funeral solemnities.
As the litter approached the city and was descried from the
walls, the people poured forth to gaze once more on the face of
their hero. Foremost of all, the mother and the wife of Hector
came, and at the sight of the lifeless body renewed their lamenta-
tions. The people wept with them, and to the going down of the
sun there was no pause or abatement of their grief.
The next day, preparations were made for the funeral solemni-
ties. For nine days the people brought wood and built the pile ;
and on the tenth they placed the body on the summit and applied
the torch, while all Troy, thronging forth, encompassed the pyre.
When it had completely burned, they quenched the cinders with
wine, and, collecting the bones, placed them in a golden urn, which
they buried in the earth. Over the spot they reared a pile of stones.
Such honors Ilium to her hero paid,
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade.^
1 Iliad, 24, 804 (Pope's translation).
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FALL OF TROY
219. The Fall of Troy. The story of the Iliad ends with the
death of Hector, and it is from the Odyssey and later poems that
we learn the fate of the other heroes. After the death of Hector,
Troy did not immediately fall, but receiving aid from new allies,
still continued its resistance. One of these allies was Memnon. the
Ethiopian prince, whose storv'
rfaas been already told.^ An-
other was Penthesilea, queen
of the Amazons, who canu-
with a band of female warrio! -
All the authorities attest tli
valor of these women and ili'
fearful effect of their war ci -
Penthesilea, having slain m:in\
of the bravest Greeks, was at
last slam by Achilles. But
when the hero bent over his
fallen foe and contemplated
her beauty, youth, and valor,
he bitterly regretted his victory. Thersites, the insolent brawler
and demagogue, attempting to ridicule his grief, was in conse-
quence slain by the hero.^
319. The Death of Achilles. But Achilles himself was not
destined to a long life. Having by chance seen Polyxena, daughter
of King Priam, ^perhaps on occasion of the tnice which was
allowed the Trojans for the burial of Hector, — he was captivated
with her charms ; and to win her in marriage, it is said (but not
by Homer) that he agreed to influence the Greeks to make peace
with Troy. While the hero was in the temple of Apollo negotiating
hlj liS. ■' Paiisanias, S, ii, S J| and Sophocles, Fhiloctetes, 445.
3o8 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the marriage, Paris discharged at him a poisoned arrow,^ which,
guided by Apollo, fatally wounded him in the heel. This was his
only vulnerable spot ; for Thetis, having dipped him when an in-
fant in the river Styx, had rendered every part of him invulnerable
except that by which she held him.^
220. Contest for the Arms of Achilles. The body of Achilles
so treacherously slain was rescued by Ajax and Ulysses. Thetis
directed the Greeks to bestow her son's armor on that hero who
of all survivors should be judged most deserving of it. Ajax and
Ulysses were the only claimants. A select number of the other
chiefs were appointed to award the prize. By the will of Minerva
it was awarded to Ulysses, — ^wisdom being thus rated above valor.
Ajax, enraged, set forth from his tent to wreak vengeance upon
the Atridae and Ulysses. But the goddess robbed him of reason
and turned his hand against the flocks and herds of the Argives,
which he slaughtered or led captive to his tent, counting them the
rivals who had wronged him. Then the cruel goddess restored to
him his wits. And he, fixing his sword in the ground, prepared
to take his own life :
" Come and look on me,
0 Death, O Death, — and yet in yonder world
1 shall dwell with thee, speak enough with thee ;
And thee I call, thou light of golden day,
Thou Sun, who drivest on thy glorious car.
Thee, for this last time, — never more again !
O Light, O sacred land that was my home ;
O Salamis, where stands my father's hearth.
Thou glorious Athens, with thy kindred race ;
Ye streams and rivers here, and Troi'a's plains,
To you that fed my life I bid farewell ;
This last, last word does Ajax speak to you ;
All else, I speak in Hades to the dead." •
Then, falling upon his sword, he died. So, in the words of his
magnanimous foe, Ulysses, passed to the god that ruleth in gloom
The best and bravest of the Argive host.
Of all that came to Troi'a, saving one,
Achilles* self.'
1 Virgil, iEneid, 6, 57. 2 Statius, Achilleid, 1, 269. 8 Sophocles, Ajar.
THE FALL OF TROY
309
On the spot where his blood sank into the earth a hyacinth sprang
up, bearing on its leaves the first two letters of his name, Ai, the
Greek interjection of woe.^
It was now discovered that Troy could not be taken but by the
aid of the arrows of Hercules. They were in possession of Philoc-
tetes, the friend who had been with Hercules at the last and had
lighted his funeral pyre. Philoctetes ^ had joined the Grecian ex-
pedition against Troy ; but he accidentally wounded his foot with
Fig. 163. CEnone warning Paris
one of the poisoned arrows, and the smell from the wound proved
so offensive that his companions carried him to the isle of Lemnos
and left him there. Diomede and Ulysses, or Ulysses and Neop-
tolemus (son of Achilles), were now sent to induce him to rejoin
the army. They succeeded, Philoctetes was cured of his wound
by Machaon, and Paris was the first victim of the fatal arrows.
I See Commentary.
* Serviua Honoratus, Commentary on jEneid (3, 40a). According to Sophocles (Philoc-
tetes), the wound was occasioned by the bite of a serpent that guarded the shrine of the
nymph Cbryse, on an islet of the same luune near Lemnot.
r3io
221
one w
fEtior
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
221. Paris and (Enone. In his distress Paris bethought him oJ
one whom in his prosperity he had forgotten. This was the nymph
CEnone, whom he had married when a youth and had abandoned;
for the fatal beauty of Helen. Oinone, remembering the wrongs
she had suffered, refused to heal the wound ; and Paris went back
to Troy and died. CEnone quickly repented and hastened after him
with remedies, but came too late, and in her grief hanged herself.
222. The Palladium. There was in Troy a celebrated statue
of Minn-T- i-i]''--' H-i- l^ili-i-^-i-m. It was said to have fallen from
heaven, and the belief
was that the city could
not be taken so long
as tliis statue remained
within it, Ulysses and
Diomede entered the
ci^ in disguise and suc-
ceeded in obtaining the
Palladium, which they
carried off to the Gre-
cian camp.
223. The Wooden
Horse. But Troy still
held out. The Greeks
began to despair of sub-
duing it by force, and by.
advice of Ulysses they resorted to stratagem.^ They pretended to
be making preparations to abandon the siege ; and a number of the
ships were withdrawn and concealed behind a neighboring island.
They then constructed an immense wooden horse, which they gave
out was intended as a propitiatory offering to Minerva ; but it was,
in fact, filled with armed men. The rest of the Greeks then betook
themselves to their ships and sailed away, as if for a final depar-
ture. The Trojans, seeing the encampment broken up and the fleet
gone, concluded that the enemy had abandoned the siege. The
gates of the city were tJirown open, and the wliole population issued
forth, rejoicing at the long-prohibited liberty of passing freely over
1 Virgil, Mncid, i.
THE FALL OF TROY
311
the scene of the late encampment. The great horse was the chief
object of curiosity. Some recommended that it be taken into the
city as a trophy ; others felt afraid of it. While they hesitated,
Laocoon. the priest of Neptune^ exclaimed, ** What madness, citi-
zens, is this ! Have you not learned enough of Grecian fraud to
be on your guard against it ? For my part, I fear the Greeks even
when they offer gifts." ^ So saying, he threw his lance at the
horse's side. It struck, and a hollow sound reverberated like a
groan. Then perhaps the people might have taken his advice and
destroyed the fatal horse with its contents, but just at that moment
a group of people appeared dragging forward one who seemed a
prisoner and a Greek. Stupefied with terror, the captive was
brought before the chiefs. He informed them that he was a Greek,
SiijQiLby name; and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses,
he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure*
With regard to the wooden horsey he told them that it was a pro-
pitiatory offering to Minerva, and had been made so huge for the
express purpose of preventing its being carried within the city ;
for Calchas the prophet had told them that if the Trojans took
possession of it, they would assuredly triumph over the Greeks.
224. Laocoon and the Serpents. This language turned the tide
of the people's feelings, and they began to think how they might
best secure the monstrous horse and the favorable auguries con-
nected with it, when suddenly a prodigy occurred which left no
room for doubt. There appeared advancing over the sea two im-
mense serpents. They came upon the land and the crowd fled in
all directions. The serpents advanced directly to the spot where
Laocoon stood with his two sons. They first attacked the children,
winding round their bodies and breathing pestilential breath in
their faces. The father, attempting to rescue them, was next
seized and involved in the serpent's coils.
. . . Vain
The struggle ; vain, against the coiling strain
And gripe, and deepening of the dragon's grasp,
The old man's clinch ; the long envenomed chain
Rivets the living links, — the enormous asp
Enforces pang on pang, and stifles gasp on gasp.^
1 Tlmea Danaos ei dona ferenies, — i£neid, 2. 49. 2 Byron, Childe Haiold.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
r3I2
He struggled to tear them away, but they overpowered all his
efforts and strangled him and the children in their poisonous folds.
The event was regarded as a clear indication of the displeasure of
the gods at Laocoon's irreverent treatment of the wooden hoiBe,
which they no longer hesitated to regard as a sacred object and
prepared to introduce with due solemnity into the city. They did
so with songs and triumphal acclamations, and the day closed with
festivity. In the night the armed men who were inclosed in the
body of the horse, being let out by the traitor Sinon, opened the
^■]^;. 105. Thl SaCi: >Jb' Txuv
(l^ft half)
' gates of the city to their friends who had returned under cover of
the night. The city was set on fire ; the people, overcome with feast-
ing and sleep, were put to the sword, and Troy completely subdued.
225. The Death of Priam. Priam lived to see the downfall of
his kingdom and was slain at last on the fatal night when the
Greeks took the city. He had armed himself and was about to
mingle with the combatants,^ but was prevailed on by Hecuba to
take refuge with his daughters and herself as a suppliant at the
altar of Jupiter. While there, his youngest son, Poliles, pursued
by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, rushed in wounded and expired
eiclamaiion, " Xol such aid not such defenders does the [Ime lequiie," hu
become provnbial
TtK^ui iget. — jEneid, i, \i
THE FALL OF TROY
313
at the feet o£ his father ; whereupon Priam, overcome with indig-
nation, hurled his spear with feeble hand against Pyrrhus and was
forthwith slain by him.
, The Survivors.^ Queen Hecuba and her daughter Cas-
sandra were carried captives to Greece. Cassandra had been ioved
by Apollo, who gave her the gift of prophecy ; but afterwards of-
fended with her, he had rendered the gift unavailing by ordaining
that her predictions should never be believed. Polj'xeiia, another
d^u^iter, who had been loved by Achilles, was demanded by the
1 56. The
t( Right half)
ghost of that warrior and was sacrificed by the Greeks upon his
tomb. Of the fate of the white-armed Andromache we have already
spoken. She was carried off as the wife of Neoptolemus, but he
was faithful to her for only a short time. After he had cast her
aside she married Helenus, a brother of Hector, and still later
returned to Asia Minor.
227. Helen, Meaelaiis, and Agamemnon. On the fall of Troy,
Menelaiis recovered possession of his wife, who, it seems, had not
ceased to love him, though she had yielded to the might of Venus
and deserted him for another,^ After the death of Paris, she aided
i
1 Euripides, —
0 Egypt.
314 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the Greeks secretly on several occasions : in particular when Ulys-
ses and Diomede entered the city in disguise to carry off the Pal-
ladium. She then saw and recognized Ulysses, but kept the secret
and even assisted them in obtaining the image. Thus she became
reconciled to Menelaiis, and they were among the first to leave the
shores of Troy for their native land. But having incurred the dis-
pleasure of the gods, they were driven by storms from shore to
shore of the Mediterranean, visiting Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Egypt.
In Egypt they were kindly treated and presented with rich gifts, of
which Helen's share was a golden spindle and a basket on wheels.
. . . Many yet adhere
To the ancient distaff at the bosom fixed,
Casting the whirling spindle as they walk.
. . . This was of old, in no inglorious days,
The mode of spinning, when the Egyptian prince
A golden distaff gave that beauteous n)rmph,
Too beauteous Helen ; no uncourtly gift.^
Milton also alludes to a famous recipe for an invigorating draft,
called Nepenthe, which the Egyptian queen gave to Helen :
Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-bom Helena,
Is of such power to stir up joy as this,
To life so friendly or so cool to thirst.^
At last, arriving in safety at Sparta, Menelaiis and Helen re-
sumed their royal dignity, and lived and reigned in splendor ; and
when Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, in search of his father,
arrived at Sparta, he found them celebrating the marriage of their
daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.
Agamemnon^ was not so fortunate in the issue. During his
absence his wife Clytemnestra had been false to him ; and when
his return was expected, she with her paramour, ^Egisthus, son of
Thyestes, laid a plan for his destruction. Cassandra warned the
king, but as usual her prophecy was not regarded. While Aga-
memnon was bathing previous to the banquet given to celebrate
his return, the conspirators murdered him.
1 Dyer, The Fleece. > Milton, Comus. ' iCschylus, Agamemnon.
TH^FALL OF TROY 315
228. Electra and Orates. It was the intention of the conspira-
tors to slay his son Orestes also, a lad not yet old enough to be an
object of apprehension, but from whom, if he should be suffered to
grow up, there might be danger, T^lfrtrp, ^^^ figt-*"- »f Qr^cfgc;^ saved
her brother's life by sending him secretly to his uncle Strophius,
king of Phocis. In the palace of Strophius, Orestes grew up with
■ the king's son Pylades, and formed with him a friendship which
has become proverbial.
Electra frequently re-
minded her brother
by messengers of the
duty of avenging his
father's death he too
when he reached ma
turity, consulted the
oracle of Delphi which
confirmed him in the
design. He therefore
repaired in disguise to
Argos, pretending to
be a messenger from
Strophius, who would
announce the death of
Orestes. He brought
with him what pur-
ported to be the ashes
of the deceased in a
funeral urn. After vis-
iting his father's tomb and sacrificing upon it, according to the rites
of the ancients, he met by the way his sister Electra. Mistaking her
for one of the domestics, and desirous of keeping his arrival a secret
till the hour of vengeance should arrive, he produced the urn. At
once his sister, believing Orestes to be really dead, took the urn from
him, and, embracing it, poured forth her grief in language full of ten-
derness and despair. Soon a recognition was effected, and the prince,
with the aid of his sister, slew both <Egisthus and Clytemn«stra.^
I.«jchylui, Cboiiphori; Soptiodei, Electra ; Euripidei,-~Electn,Qn*MHi.
F3i6
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Fig. i6S. Oxestes
239. Orestes pursued by the Furies.' This revolting act, the
slaughter of a mother by her son, though extenuated by the guilt
of the victim and the express command of the gods, did not fail
to awaken in the breasts of
A J^ A '''^' j^ the ancients the same abhor-
VIHS^TiL'^IjV iRv^ (^ rence that it does in ours. The
f^Snk l(|n£jtij^^L^tf~T ■ ' ^umenides seized upon Orestes
^Si^L. If /y^f ^^yjkg, f and drove him frantic from land
tlmli^ I / \\ SiraKA ' to land. In these wanderings
Eylades accompanied him and
watched over him. At length in
answerto a second appeal to the
oracle, Orestes was directed to
i go to the temple of the Tauri in Scythia and to bring thence a statue
of Diana which was believed to have fallen from heaven. Accord-
ingly the friends went to the Tauric Chersonese, Since there the
barbarous people were
accustomed to sacri-
fice to the goddess all
strangers who fell into
their hands, the two
friends were seized
and carried bound to
the temple to be
made victims. But
the priestess of Diana
of the Tauri was no
other than Iphigenia,
the sister of Orestes,
who had been snatched
away by Diana at the
moment when she was
about to be sacrificed. **'"'° °^ ™^ '"*"'"
Ascertaining from the prisoners who they were, Iphigenia disclosed
herself to them ; and the three made their escape with the statue
of the goddess, and returned to Mycenae."
£*chylua, Eumenidei, < Euripides, [phiginia Bmong the I'auri.
I
(li
i
Fic. 169, Oh(
1
I
THE FALL OF TROY 317
230. His Purification. But Orestes was not yet relieved from
the vengeance of the Erinyes. Finally, he took refuge with
Minerva at Athens. The goddess afforded him protection and
appointed the court of Areopagus to decide his fate. The Erin-
yes brought their accusation, and Orestes pleaded the command
of the Delphic oracle as his excuse. When the court voted and
the voices were equally divided, Orestes was aquitted by the com-
mand of Minerva. He was then purified with plentiful blood
of swine.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES
As one that for a weary space has lain
Lulled by the song of Circe and her irine
In gardens near the pale of Proserpine,
Where that ^a;an isle forgets the main.
And only the low lutes of love complain,
And only shadows of wan lovers pine, —
As such an one were glad to know the brine
Salt on his lips, and the large air again,
So, gladly, from the songs of modern
speech
Men turn and see the stars, and feel
the free
Shrill wind beyond the close of
heavy flowers;
And, through the music of the lan-
guid hours,
They hear like ocean on a western beach
The sui^ and thunder of the Odyssey.^
831. From Troy to Phsacia. The
Odyssey of Homer narrates the wan-
derings of Ulysses (Odysseus) in his
rL'turn from Troy to his own kingdom,
Itliaca.^
From Troy the vessels first made
land at Ismarus, city of the Ciconians,
where, in a skirmish with the inhabitants,
Ulysses lost six men from each ship,'
332. The Lotos-eaters. Sailing thence they were overtaken
by a storm which drove them for nine days tiU they reached the
1 Sonnet by Andrew Lang.
* For the authorship of the Odyssey, see { i(|8 (j) ; and for translations, see correspond-
iogeecdott of Cbe Commentaiy. * Odyssey, 9.
3'8
Fro. 170.
nmHansssL^) ^■•'-
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 319
country of the Lotos-eaters. Here, after watering, Ulysses sent
three of his men to discover who the inhabitants were. These
men on coming among the Lotos-eaters were kindly entertained
by them and were given some of their own food, the lotos plant,
to eat. The effect of this food was such that those who partook
of it lost all thought of home and wished to remain in that country.
It was by main force that Ulysses dragged these men away, and he
was even obliged to tie them under the benches of his ship.
Tennyson in The Lotos-eaters has fittingly expressed the dreamy,
languid feeling which the lotus-food is said to have produced.
. . . How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream,
With half-shut eyes ever to seem
Falling asleep in a half-dream !
To dream and dream, like yonder amber light
Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height ;
To hear each other's whispered speech ;
Eating the Lotos, day by day.
To watch the crisping ripples on the beach,
And tender curving lines of creamy spray ;
To lend our hearts and spirits wholly
To the influence of mild-minded melancholy ;
To muse and brood and live again in memory.
With those old faces of our infancy
Heap'd over with a mound of grass,
Two handf uls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass !
Dear is the memory of our wedded lives, • ' -
And dear the last embraces of our wives
And their warm tears : but all hath suffer'd change ;
For surely now our household hearths are cold :
Our sons inherit us : our looks are strange :
And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy.
. . . But, propt on beds of amaranth and moly,
How sweet (while warm airs hill us, blowing lowly)
With half-dropt eyelid stijl,
Beneath a heaven dark and holy.
To watch the long bright river drawing slowly
His waters from the purple hill —
To hear the dewy echoes calling
320 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
From cave to cave thro' the thick-twined vine —
To watch the emerald-color'd water falling
Thro' many a wov*n acanthus-wreath divine !
Only to hear and see the far-off sparkling brine,
Only to hear were sweet, stretched out beneath the pine.
The Lotos blooms below the barren peak :
The Lotos blows by every winding creek :
All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone :
Thro' every hollow cave and alley lone
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown.
We have had enough of action, and of motion we,
RoU'd to starboard, roU'd to larboard, when the surge was seething free,
Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-foun^ns in the sea.
Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind.
In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined
On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. . . .
233. The Cyclopes. They next arrived at the country of the
Cyclopes. The Cyclopes ^ inhabited an island of which they were
the only possessors. They dwelt in caves and fed on the wild pro-
ductions of the island and on what their flocks yielded, for they
were shepherds. Ulysses left the main body of his ships at anchor,
and with one vessel went to the Cyclopes* island to explore for
supplies. He landed with his companions, carrying with them a
jar of wine for a present. Coming to a large cave they entered it,
and, finding no one within, examined its contents. They found it
stored with the riches of the flock, quantities of cheese, pails and
bowls of milk, lambs and kids in their pens, all in good order.
Presently arrived the master of the cave, Polyphemus, bearing an
immense bundle of firewood, which he threw down before the
cavern's mouth. He then drove into the cave the sheep and goats
to be milked, and, entering, rolled to the cave's mouth an enor-
mous rock, that twenty oxen could not draw. Next he sat down
and milked his ewes, preparing a part for cheese and setting the
rest aside for his customary drink. Then turning round his one
huge eye he discerned the strangers, and growled out at them, de-
manding who they were and where from. Ulysses replied most
humbly, stating that they were Greeks from the great expedition
lii4i.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 32 1
that had lately won so much glory in the conquest of Troy, that
they were now on their way home, and finished by imploring his
hospitality in the name of the gods. Polyphemus deigned no
answer, but reaching out his hand seized two of the men, whom
he hurled against the side of the cave and dashed out their brains.
He proceeded to devour them with great relish, and having made
a hearty meal, stretched himself on the floor to sleep. Ulysses
was tempted to seize the opportunity and plunge his sword into
him as he slept, but recollected that it would only expose them all
to certain destruction, as the rock with which the giant had closed
up the door was far beyond their power to remove, and they would
therefore be in hopeless imprisonment.
Next morning the giant seized two more of the men and dis-
patched them in the same manner as their companions, feasting
on their flesh till no fragment was left. He then moved away the
rock from the door, drove out his flocks, and went out, carefully re-
placing the barrier after him. When he was gone Ulysses planned
how he might take vengeance for his murdered friends and effect
his escape with his surviving companions. He made his men pre-
pare a massive bar of wood cut by the Cyclops for a staff, which
they found in the cave. They sharpened the end of the staff and
seasoned it in the fire, and hid it under the straw on the cavern
floor. Then four of the boldest were selected, with whom Ulysses
joined himself as a fifth. The Cyclops came home at evening,
rolled away the stone, and drove in his flock as usual. After
milking them and making his arrangements as before, he seized
two more of Ulysses* companions, dashed their brains out, and
made his evening meal upon them as he had on the others. After
he had supped, Ulysses approaching him handed him a bowl of
wine, saying, '* Cyclops, this is wine; taste and drink after thy
meal of man's flesh." He took and drank it, and was hugely
delighted with it, and called for more. Ulysses supplied him once
and again, which pleased the giant so much that he promised him
as a favor that he should be the last of the party devoured. He
asked his name, to which Ulysses replied, " My name is Noman."
After his supper the giant sought his repose, and was soon
sound asleep. Then Ulys§^§ with his four select friends \^.^V^^2s^R.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
then pois- ■
; deep into fl
iger. The 1
I 322
end of the stake in the fire till it was one burning coal, then p
ing it exactly above the giant's only eye, they plunged it deep i
the socket, twirling it round as a carpenter does his auger,
howling monster with his outcry filled the cavern, and UlysE
with his aids nimbly got out of his way and concealed themselves
in the cave. He, bellowing, called aloud on all the Cyclopes
dwelling in the caves around him, far and near. They, on his cry,
flocked round the den, and inquired what grievous hurt had caused
him to sound such an alarm and break their slumbers. He replied,
THE Cyclops' Eve
" O friends, I die, and Noman gives the blow." They answered,
' If no man hurts thee, it is the stroke of Jove, and thou must
' bear it." So saying, they left him groaning.
Next morning the Cyclops rolled away the stone to let his flock
out to pasture, but planted himself in the door of the cave to feel
of all as they went out, that Ulysses and his men should not es-
cape with them. But Ulysses had made his men harness the rams
of the flock three abreast, with osiers which they found on the
floor of the cave. To the middle ram of the three one of the
Greeks suspended himself, so protected by the exterior rams on
either side. As they passed, the giant felt of the animals' backs
and sides, but never thought of their bellies ; so the men all passed
safe, Ulysses himself being on the last one that passed. When
they had got a few paces from the cavern, Ulysses and his friends
scd themselves from their rams an(
a good f
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 323
flock down to the shore to their boat. They put them aboard with
all haste, then pushed off from the shore ; and when at a safe dis-
tance Ulysses shouted out, " Cydops, the gods have well requited
thee for thy atrocious deeds. Know it is Ulysses to whom thou
owest thy shameful loss of sight." The Cyclops, hearing this,
seized a rock that projected from the side of the mountain, and
rending it from its bed,
he lifted it high in the
air, then exerting all
his force, hurled it in
the direction of the
. voice. Down came the
mass, just forward of
the vessel. The ocean,
at the plunge of the
huge rock, heaved the
ship toward Polyphemus ; but a second rock which he hurled,
striking aft, propelled them fortunately in the direction that they
desired to take. Ulysses was about to hail the giant again, but his
friends besought him not to do so. He could not forbear, how-
ever, letting the giant know that they had escaped his missile,
but waited till they had reached a safer distance than before.
The giant answered them with curses, while Ulysses and his
friends, plying their oars vigorously, regained their companions.
234. The Bag of Winds. Ulysses next arrived at the island of
_j£^us.^ He treated Ulysses hospitably, and at his departure gave
him, tied up in a leathern bag with a silver string, such winds as
might be hurtful and dangerous, commanding fair winds to blow
the barks toward their country. Nine days they sped before the
wind, and all that time Ulysses had stood at the helm without
sleep. At fast quite exhausted he lay down to sleep. While
he slept, the crew conferred together about the mysterious bag,
and concluded it must contain treasures given by the hospitable
King iEolus to their commander. Tempted to secure some por-
tion for themselves, they loosed the string, when immediately
the winds rushed forth. The ships were driven far from their
1 OdjMej, 10.
I
I
I
I;
324 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
e and back again to the island they had just left. Mollis,
nant at their folly, refused to assist them further, and they
obliged to labor over their course once more by means of
their oars.
235. The Lsestrygonians. Their next adventure was with the
barbarous tribe of Lasstrygonians. The vessels all pushed into the
harbor, tempted by the secure appearance of the cove, completely
landlocked ; only Ulysses moored his vessel without. As soon as
the La2strygonians found the ships completely in their power, they
attacked them, heaving huge stones which broke and overturned
them, while with theu" spears they dispatched the seamen as they
struggled in the water. All the vessels with their crews were
destroyed, except Ulysses' own ship which had remained outside.
He, finding no safety but in flight, exhorted his men to ply their
oars vigorously ; and they escaped.
236. The Isle of Msea, With grief for their slain companions
mixed with joy at their own escape, they pursued their way till they
arrived at the .^iean isle, where Circe dwelt, the daughter of the
sun. Landing here, Ulysses climbed a hill and, gazing round, saw
no signs of habitation except in one spot at the center of the
island, where he perceived a palace embowered with trees. He sent
forward one half of his crew, under the command of Euryloch^s,
to see what prospect of hospitality they might find. As they ap-
proached the palace, they found themselves surrounded by lions,
tigers, and wolves, not fierce, but tamed by Circe's art, for she was
a powerful magician. These animals had once been men, but had
been changed by Circe's enchantments into the forms of beasts.
The sounds of soft music were heard from within, and a sweet
female voice singing. Eurylochus called aloud, and the goddess
came forth and invited them in ; they all gladly entered except
Eurylochus, who suspected danger. The goddess conducted her
guests to a seat, and had iheni served with wine and other deli-
cacies. When they had feasted heartily, she touched them one by
one with her wand, and they became immediately changed into
swine, in " head, body, voice, and bristles," yet with their intel-
lects as before. She shut them in her styes and supplied them
with acorns and such other things as swine love.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 325
Eurylochus hurried back to the ship and told the tale. Ulysses
thereupon determined to go himself and tiy if by any means he
might deliver his companions. As he strode onward alone, he met
a youth who addressed him familiarly, appearing to be acquainted
1
MM/jm',
'AMIW/A
r--TMMiMiMll^S/%
^^^
^
m
^^H^
A
>
wRj
^£SbiJ^^"" °'^^^^^^
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EK7HI AlHrHIHOI THI HPOI AAKINOTNTOT KAPHA 1
Fig. 173. The Castle of Circe
with his adventures. He announced himself as Mercury, and in-
formed Ulysses of the arts of Circe and of the danger of approach-
ing her. As Ulysses was not to be dissuaded from his attempt,
Mercury provided him with a sprig of the plant Moly, of wonder-
ful power to resist sorceries, and instructed him how to act.
Meanwhile the companions of Ulysses made mournful plaint to
their cruel mistress :
Huddling they came, with shag sides caked of mire, —
With hoofs fresh sullied from the troughs o'er-turned, —
With wrinkling snouts, ^yet eyes in which desire
Of some strai^e thing unutterably burned,
Unquenchable ; and still where'er She turned
326 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
They rose about her, striving each o*er each,
With restless, fierce importuning that yearned
Through those brute masks some piteous tale to teach,
Yet lacked the words thereto, denied the power of speech. . . .
..." If swine we be, — if we indeed be swine.
Daughter of Pers^, make us swine indeed,
Well-pleased on litter-straw to lie supine, —
Well-pleased on mast and acorn-shales to feed.
Stirred by all instincts of the bestial breed ;
But O Unmerciful ! O Pitiless !
Leave us not thus with sick men's hearts to bleed ! —
To waste long days in yearning, dumb distress,
And memory of things gone, and utter hopelessness !
..." Make thou us men again, — if men but groping
That dark Herfcafter which th' Olympians keep ;
Make thou us men again, — if men but hoping
Behind death's doors security of sleep ; —
For yet to laugh is somewhat, and to sleep ; —
To feel delight of living, and to plow
The salt-blown acres of the shoreless deep ; —
Better, — yea better far all these than bow
Foul faces to foul earth, and yearn — as we do now ! "
So they in speech unsyllabled. But She,
The fair-tressed Goddess, bom to be their bane,
Uplifting straight her wand of ivory.
Compelled them groaning to the styes again ;
Where they in hopeless bitterness were fain
To rend the oaken woodwork as before.
And tear the troughs in impotence of pain, —
Not knowing, they, that even at the door
Divine Odysseus stood, — as Hermes told of yore.^
Ulysses, reaching the palace, was courteously received by Circe,
who entertained him as she had done his companions, but after
he had eaten and drunk, touched him with her wand, saying,
** Hence, seek the stye and wallow with thy friends." But he, in-
stead of obeying, drew his sword and rushed upon her with fury
in his countenance. She fell on her knees and begged for mercy.
1 From Austin Dobson't Prayer of the Swine to Ciice.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 327
He dictated a solemn oath that she would release his companions
and practice no further harm against him or them ; and she re-
peated it, at the same time promising to dismiss them all in safety
after hospitably entertaining them. She was as good as her word.
The men were restored to their shapes, the rest of the crew sum-
moned from the shore, and all magnificently entertained day after
day, till Ulysses seemed to have forgotten his native land and to
have reconciled himself to an inglorious life of ease and pleasure.
237. Ulysses visits Hades. At length his companions recalled
him to nobler sentiments, and he received their admonition grate-
fully. Circe, won over by his prayers, consented to send him on
his homeward way. But she warned him that first he must perform
another journey, must visit the Underworld and there learn from
the shade of Jiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, the way and
measure of his path, and how to proceed to Ithaca over the
teeming deep.
" But who will guide us .? " queried Ulysses in amaze ; ** for no
man ever yet sailed to hell in a black ship."
** Son of Laertes," replied the Goddess, '' Ulysses of many de-
vices, nay, trouble not thyself for want of a guide, by thy ship
abiding, but set up the mast and spread abroad the white sails and
sit thee down ; and the breeze of the North Wind will bear thy
vessel on her way. But when thou hast now sailed in thy ship
across the stream Oceanus where is a waste shore and the groves
of Persephone, even tall poplar trees and willows that shed their
fruit before the season, there beach thy ship by deep-edd)dng
Oceanus, but go thyself to the dank house of ' Hades. Thereby
into Acheron flows Pyriphlegethon, and Cocytus, a branch of the
water of the Styx ; and there is a rock, and the meeting of the
two roaring waters. There dig a trench and pour a drink offering
to all the dead, mead and sweet wine and water, sprinkling white
meal thereon. And when thou hast prayed to them, offer up a ram
and a black ewe. Then will many spirits come to thee of the dead
that be departed ; but thou shalt draw thy sharp sword and suffer
them not to approach the blood, ere thou hast word of Tiresias." ^
1 Odyssey, lo ; adapted from Butcher and Lang's translation. So the following from
Odyeecyt 11.
328 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
So Ulysses and his companions did as th^ were bid. And the
ship came to the limits of the world, to the deep-flowing Oceanus.
TTiere is the land and cit>' of the Cimmerians, where no ray of
sunshine ever falls, but deadly night is outspread over miserable
mortals. And there Ulysses and those with him performed the
drink offering and the prayer and the sacrifice ; and Ulysses fended
off the spirits of the dead from the blood until the soul of the
Theban prophet arrived. And that one, having dmnk of the dails
blood, declared unto Ulysses the future of his way : how the Earth-
shaker, god of the w-aters, should oppose him, but how he should
ftin home without further disaster if, when passing the isle Tjhri-
Oada, he would but restrain the spirit of his men so that they
should do no injury to the cattle of the Sun grazing thereon. If,
however, these cattle were not respected but hurt, then there should
follow ruin for both ship and men ; and Ulysses himself on the
ship of stranger.'! should return late in time to his home, to find
sorrows there, proud men wasting his patrimony and wooing his
godlike wife to wed her. But that he should avenge their violence,
and settie his affairs at home, and then betake himself again to
wandering ; and that from the sea should his own death come, —
'■ the gentlest death that may be, which shall end thee fordone
with smooth old age ; and the folk shall dwell happily around thee."
In the land of Hades, Ulysses saw also the shade of his mother,
and spoke with her of his father and of Penelope, his wife, and of
his son Telemachus. And he saw also the shades of Antiope and
Alcmene and Phsdra and Procris ; and of Agamemnon, and
Achilles, and Ajax, the son of Telamon, and of many others,
and spoke with them of their own fates and of the affairs of the
upper world.
239. The SirenB. Returning from the abode of the shades,
Ulysses revisited the vEasan isle and recounted to Circe his adven-
tures and the wondrous visions and the laws of Hell. She in re-
turn speeded his homeward voyage, instructing him particularly
how to pass safely by the coast of the Sirens.'
These nymphs had the power, as has been already said, of
charming by their song all who heard tliem, so that mariners
lOdys.ey, 12.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 329
were impelled to cast themselves into the sea to destruction. Circe
directed Ulysses to stop the ears of his seamen with wax, so that
they shOTild not hear the strain ; to have himself bound to the
mast, and to enjoin his people, whatever he might say or do, by
no means to release him till they should have passed the Sirens'
island. Ulysses obeyed these directions. As they approached the
Sirens' island, the sea was calm, and over the waters came notes
of music so ravishing and attractive that Ulysses struggled to get
loose and, by cries and _ , _ , , , ,
previous orders, sprang J ^A|\^Si^Mf1^y--^ tt*^^
companions the signal
to unseal their ears ;
and they relieved him from his bonds. It is said that Q!w of Uie
fiirens, ^firtheTinpe, in grief at the escape of Ulysses drowned her-
self. Her body was cast up on the Italian shore where now stands
the city of Naples, in early times called by the Siren's name.
239. ScylU and Charybdis. Ulysses had been warned by Circe
of the two monsters Scylla and Charybdis. We have already met
with Scylla in the myth of Glaucus. She dwelt in a cave high up
on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her
long necks (for she had six heads), and in each of her mouths to
seize one of the crew of every vessel passing within reach. The
other terror, Charybdis, was a gulf nearly on a level with the
water. Thrice each day the water rushed into a frightful chasm,
and thrice was disgorged. Any vessel coming near the whirlpool
when the tide was rushing in must inevitably be engulfed ; not
Neptune himself could save it. On approaching the haunt of tba
Fio. 174. Ulysses a
^H dread
^V roar 0
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Fig. 175, Ui.
dread monsters, Ulysses kept strict watch to discover them. The
roar of the waters as Charybdis engulfed them gave warning at
a distance, but SoytU could nowhere be discerned. While Ulysses
and his men watched with anx-
ious eyes the dreadful whirl-
pool, they were not equally on
their guard from the attack
of Scylla,* and the monster,
darting forth her snaky heads,
caught six of his men and bore
them away shrieking to her
den. Ulysses was unable to
afford any assistance,
240. The Cattle of the Sun.
Both Tiresias and Circe had
warned him of another danger.
After passing Scylla and Chaiybdis the next land he would make
was Thrinacia, an island whereon were pastured the cattle of
Helios, the Sun, tended by his daughters l^mpetia and Phaethusa.
These flocks must not be violated, whatever the wants of the voy-
agers might be. If this injunction were transgressed, destruction
was sure to fall on the offenders. Ulysses would willingly have
passed the island of the Sun without stopping, but his companions
so urgently pleaded for the rest and refreshment that would be
derived from anchoring and passing the night on shore, that
Ulysses yielded. He made them swear, however, not to touch the
sacred flocks and herds, but to content themselves with what pro-
vision they yet had left of the supply which Circe had put on
board. So long as this supply lasted the people kept their oath ;
but contrary winds detained them at the island for a month, and
after consuming all their stock of provisions, they were forced to
rely upon the birds and fishes they could catch. Famine pressed
them, and at last, in the absence of Ulysses, they slew some of the
cattle, vainly attempting to make amends for the deed by offering
from them a portion to the offended powers. Ulysses, on his
return to the shore, was horror-struck at perceiving what they had
1 iiuidil iH Scyllam, cupitns iniari Chatyidim,
FLYING MERCURY
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 331
done, and the more so on account of the portentous signs which
followed. The skins crept on the ground, and the joints of meat
lowed on the spits while roasting.
The wind becoming fair, they sailed from the island. They had
not gone far when the weather changed, and a storm of thunder
and lightning ensued. A stroke of lightning shattered their mast,
which in its fall killed the pilot. At last the vessel itself went to
pieces. The keel and mast floating side by side, Ulysses formed of
them a raft to which he clung ; and, the wind changing, the waves
bore him to Cal3rpso's island. All the rest of the crew perished.
241. Calypso's Island. Calypso, a sea-njnnph, received Ulysses
hospitably, entertained him magnificently, became enamored of
him, and wished to retain him forever, offering him immor-
tality. He remained with her seven long years. But he persisted
in his resolution to return to his country and his wife and son.^
Calypso at last received the command of Jove to dismiss him.
Mercury brought the message to her and found her in her grotto.
A garden vine, luxuriant on all sides,
Mantled the spacious cavern, cluster-hung
Profuse ; four fountains of serenest lymph,
Their sinuous course pursuing side by side.
Strayed all around, and everywhere appeared
Meadows of softest verdure, purpled o'er
With violets ; it was a scene to fill
A god from heaven with wonder and delight.^
Calypso, with much reluctance, proceeded to obey the commands
of Jupiter. She supplied Ulysses with the means of constructing
a raft, provisioned it well for him, and gave him a favoring gale.
He sped on his course prosperously for many days, till at last,
when in sight of land, a storm arose that broke his mast and
threatened to rend the raft asunder. In this crisis he was seen
by a compassionate sea-nymph, Leucothea^ who, in the form of a
cormorant, alighted on the raft and presented him with a girdle,
directing him to bind it beneath his breast, that, if he should be
compelled to trust himself to the waves, it might buoy him up and
enable him to reach the land.
1 Odyssey, i, 10. 2 Odyssey, 5, 64 (Cowper's translation).
r332 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
242. The Land of the Phaeacians. Ulysses clung to the raft so
long as its timbers held together, and when it no longer yielded
him support, binding the girdle around him, he swam. Minerva
smoothed the billows before him and sent him a wind that rolled
the waves towards the shore. The surf beat Jiigh on the rocks
and seemed to forbid approach ; but at length finding calm water
at the mouth of a gentle stream, he landed, spent with toil, breath-
less and speechless and almost dead. Reviving after some time,
he kissed the soil, rejoicing, yet at a loss what course to take. At
a short distance he perceived a wood, to which he turned his steps.
There finding a covert sheltered by intermingling branches alike
from the sun and the rain, he collected a pile of leaves and formed
a bed, on which he stretched himself, and, heaping the leaves over
him, fell asleep,
I The land where he was thrown was Scheria, the country of the
Phaeacians.* These people dwelt originally near the Cyclopes ;
but, being oppressed by that savage race, they migrated to the isle
of Scheria under the conduct of iJausith.Qiis, theirking. They were,
the poet tells us, a people akin to the gods, who appeared mani-
festly and feasted among them when they offered sacrifices, and
did not conceal themselves from solitary wayfarers when they met
them. They had abundance of wealth and lived in the enjoyment
of it undisturbed by the alarms of war ; for as they dwelt remote
from gain-seeking man, no enemy ever approached their shores,
and they did not even require to make use of bows and quivers.
Their chief employment was navigation. Their ships, which went
with the velocity of birds, were endued with intelligence ; they
knew every port and needed no pilot. Alcinoiis, the son of Nau-
sithous, was now their king, a wise and just sovereign, beloved by
I his people.
Now it happened that the very night on which Ulysses was cast
ashore on the Phaeacian island, and while he lay sleeping on his
bed of leaves, Nausicaa, the daughter of the king, had a dream
sent by Minerva, reminding her that her wedding day might not
be far distant, and that it would be but a prudent preparation for
that event to have a general washing of the clothes of the family.
I Odyisc)', 6.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 333
This was no slight affair, for the fountains were at some distance
and the garments must be carried thither. On awaking, the prin-
cess hastened to her parents to tdl them what was on her mind, —
not alluding to her wedding day, but finding other reasons equally
good. Her father readily assented and ordered the grooms to
furnish forth a wagon for the purpose. The clothes were put
therein, and the queen, her mother, placed in the wagon likewise
an abundant supply of food and wine. The princess took her seat
and plied the lash, her attendant virgins following her on foot.
Arrived at the riverside they turned out the mules to graze, and
unlading the carriage, bore the garments down to the water, and,
working with cheerfulness and alacrity, soon dispatched their labor.
Then having spread the garments on the shore to dry, and having
themselves bathed, they sat down to enjoy their meal ; after which
they rose and amused themselves with a game of ball, the prin-
cess singing to them while they played. But when they had
refolded the apparel and were about to resume their way to the
town, Minerva caused the ball thrown by the princess to fall into
the water, whereat they all screamed, and Ulysses awaked at the
sound.
Utterly destitute of clothing, he discovered that only a few bushes
were interposed between him and a group of young maidens, whom,
by their deportment and attire, he discovered to be not mere peas-
ant girls, but of a higher class. Breaking off a leafy branch from
a tree, he held it before him and stepped out from the thicket. The
virgins at sight of him fled in all directions, Nausicaa alone ex-
cepted, for her Minerva aided and endowed with courage and dis-
cernment. Ulysses, standing respectfully aloof, told his sad case,
and besought the fair object (whether queen or goddess he pro-
fessed he knew not) for food and clothing. The princess replied
courteously, promising present relief and her father^s hospitality
when he should become acquainted with the facts. She called back
her scattered maidens, chiding their alarm and reminding them
that the Phaeacians had no enemies to fear. This man, she told
them, was an unhappy wanderer, whom it was a duty to cherish,
for the poor and the stranger are from Jove. She bade them bring
food, and the garments of some of her brothers* tisal^^^^ -kss^^^^
334
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
f
^H the contents of the wagon. When this was done, and Ulysses re-
^H tiring to a sheltered place had washed his body free from the sea-
^H foam, and clothed himself, and eaten, Pallas dilated his form and
^M diffused grace over his ample chest and manly brows.
^V The princess, seeing him, was filled with admiration and scrupled
not to say to her damsels that she wished the gods would send her
such a husband. To Ulysses she recommended that he repair to
the city, following herself and her train so far as the way lay through
the fields ; but when they should approach the city, she desired
that he no longer be seen in her company, for she feared the re-
marks which rude and vulgar people might make on seeing her
I return accompanied by such a gallant stranger. To avoid this she
directed him to stop at a grove adjoining the city, in which were
a farm and garden belonging to the king. After allowing time for
the princess and her companions to reach the city, he was then to
pursue his way thither, and should be easily guided by any he
might meet to the royal abode.
t Ulysses obeyed the directions and in due time
the city, on approaching which he met a young
forth a pitcher for water.' It was Minerva who had assumed that
form. Ulysses accosted her and desired to be directed to the
palace of Alcinous, the king. The maiden replied respectfully,
offering to be his guide; for the palace, she informed him, stood
I near her father's dwelling. Under the guidance of the goddess
and, by her power, enveloped in a cloud which shielded him from
observation, Ulysses passed among the busy crowd and with won-
der observed their harbor, their ships, their forum {the resort of
heroes), and their battlements, till they came to the palace, where
the goddess, having first given him some information of the coun-
try, king, and people he was about to meet, left him. Ulysses,
before entering the courtyard of the palace, stood and surveyed
the scene. Its splendor astonished him. Brazen walls stretched
from the entrance to the interior house, of which the doors were
gold, the doorposts silver, the lintels silver ornamented with gold.
On cither side were figures of mastiffs wrought in gold and silver,
standing in rows as if to guard the approach. Along the walls
1 Odywey, 7.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 335
were seats spread through all their length with mantles of finest
texture, the work of Phaeacian maidens. On these seats the princes
sat and feasted, while golden statues of graceful youths held in
their hands lighted torches which shed radiance over the scene.
Full fifty female menials served in household offices, some em-
ployed to grind the com, others to wind off the purple wool or ply
the loom. For the Phaeacian women as f^r exceeded all other
women in household arts as the mariners of that country did the
rest of mankind in the management of ships. Without the court
a spacious garden lay, four acres in extent. In it grew many a lofty
tree, pomegranate, pear, apple, fig, and olive. Neither winter's
cold nor summer's drought arrested their growth.
The languid sunset, mother of roses,^
Lingers, a light on the magic seas,
The wide fire flames, as a flower uncloses,
Heavy with odor, and loose to the breeze.
The red rose clouds, without law or leader.
Gather and float in the airy plain ;
The nightingale sings to the dewy cedar,
The cedar scatters his scent to the main.
The strange flowers' perfume turns to singing,
Heard afar over moonlit seas :
The Siren's song, grown faint in winging,
Falls in scent on the cedar-trees.
As waifs blown out of the sunset, flying.
Purple, and rosy, and gray, the birds
Brighten the air with their wings ; their oying
Wakens a moment the weary herds.
Butterflies flit from the fairy garden,
Living blossoms of flying flowers ;
Never the nights with winter harden.
Nor moons wax keen in this land of ours.
Great fruits, fragrant, green and golden.
Gleam in the green, and droop and fall ;
Blossom, and bud, and flower unfolden.
Swing and cling to the garden wall.
1 Andrew Lang, A Song of Phseaciau
336 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Deep in ihe woods as twilight darkens,
Gladea are red with the scented fire;
Far in tbe dells the white maid hearkens
Song and sigh of the heart's desire.
Ulysses stood gazing in admiration, unobserved himself, for the
cloud which Minerva spread around him still shielded him. At
length having sufficiently observed the scene, he advanced with
rapid step into the hall where the chiefs and senators were assembled,
pouring libation to Mercury, whose worship followed the evening
meal. Just then Minerva dissolved the cloud and disclosed him to
the assembled chiefs. Advancing to the place where the queen sat,
he knelt at her feet and implored her favor and assistance to en-
able him to return to his native country. Then withdrawing, he
seated himself in the maimer of suppliants, at the hearth-side.
For a time none spoke. At last an aged statesman, addressing
the king, said, " It is not fit that a stranger who asks our hospi-
tality should be kept waiting in suppliant guise, none welcoming
him. Let him, therefore, be led to a seat among us and supplied
with food and wine," At these words the king, rising, gave his
hand to Ulysses and led him to a seat, displacing thence his own
son to make room for the stranger. Food and wine were set
before him and he ate and refreshed himself.
The king then dismissed his guests, notifying them that the
next day he would call them to council to consider what had best
be done for the stranger.
When the guests had departed and Ulysses was left alone with
the king and queen, the queen asked him who he was and whence
he came, and (recognizing the clothes which he wore as those
which her maidens and herself had made) from whom he received
those garments. He told them of his residence in Calypso's isle
and his departure thence ; of the wreck of his raft, his escape by
swimming, and of the relief afforded by the princess. The parents
heard approvingly, and the king promised to furnish a ship in
which his guest might return to his own land.
The next day the assembled chiefs confirmed the promise of
the king.' A bark was prepared and a crew of stout rowers
^ Odyuey, t.
THE WANDERINGS OF. ULYSSES 337
selected, and all betook themselves to the palace, where a bounteous
repast was provided. After the feast the king proposed that the
young men should show their guest their proficiency in manly
sports, and all went forth to the arena for games of running,
wrestling, and other exercises. After all had done their best,
Ulysses being challenged to show what he could do, at first de-
clined, but being taunted by one of the youths, seized a quoit of
weight far heavier than any the Phaeacians had thrown, and sent
it farther than the utmost throw of theirs. All were astonished
and viewed their guest with greatly increased respect.
After the games they returned to the hall, and the herald led in
Dear to the Muse,
Who yet appointed him both good and ill,
Took from him sight, but gave him strains divine.
He took for his theme the Wooden Horse, by means of which the
Greeks found entrance into Troy. Apollo inspired him, and he
sang so feelingly the terrors and the exploits of that eventful time
that all were delighted, but Ulysses was moved to tears. Observ-
ing which, Alcinoiis, when the song was done, demanded of him
why at the mention of Troy his sorrows awaked. Had he lost
there a father, or brother, or any dear friend ? Ulysses replied by
announcing himself by his true name, and, at their request, re-
counted the adventures which had befallen him since his departure
from Troy. This narrative raised the sympathy and admiration of
the Phaeacians for their guest to the highest pitch. The king pro-
posed that all the chiefs should present him with a gift, himself
setting the example. They obeyed, and vied with one another in
loading the illustrious stranger with costly gifts.
The next day Ulysses set sail in the Phaeacian vessel, and in a
short time arrived safe at Ithaca, his own island.^ When the ves-
sel touched the strand he was asleep. The mariners, without wak-
ing him, carried him on shore, and landed with him the chest
containing his presents, and then sailed away.
Neptune was so displeased at the conduct of the Phaeacians in
thus rescuing Ulysses from his hands, that, on the return of the
1 Od3r8sey, 13.
r
338 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
vessel to port, he transfonned it into a rock, right opposite the
mouth of the harbor.
243. Fate of the Suitors. Ulysses had now been away from
Ithaca for twenty years, and when he awoke he did not recognize
his native land :
" Some god hath cast me forth upton this lanil,
And O ! what land? So thick is the sea mist,
All is phantasmal. What king ruleth here?
What folk inhabit ? — cruel unto strangers,
Or hospitable? The gods have lied to me
When they foretold I should see Ithaca.
This is some swimming and Cimmerian isle,
With melancholy people of the mist.
Ah ! Ithaca, I shall not see thee more ! " "■
But Minerva, appearing in the form of a young shepherd, informed
him where he was, and told him the state of things at his palace.
More than a hundred nobles of Ithaca and of the neighboring
islands had been for years suing for the hand of Penelope, his
wife, imagining him dead, and lording it over his palace and
people as if they were owners of both.
Penelope was one of those mythic heroines whose beauties were
not those of person only, but of character and conduct as well.
She was the niece of Tyndareus, — being the daughter of his
brother Icarius, a Spartan prince. Ulysses, seeking her in mar-
riage, had won her over all competitors. But, when the moment
came for the bride to leave her father's house, Jcarius, unable to
bear the thoughts of parting with his daughter, tried to persuade
her to remain with him and not accompany her husband to Ithaca.
Ulysses gave Penelope her choice, to stay or go with him, Penelope
made no reply, but dropped her veil over her face. Icarius urged
her no further, but when she was gone erected a statue to Modesty
on the spot where they had parted.
Ulysses and Penelope had not enjoyed their union more than a
year when it was interrupted by the events which called Ulysses
to the Trojan War. During his long absence, and when it was
doubtful whether he still lived, and highly improbable that he
1 Slephcn Phillip*, Ulyuei.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES
339
would ever return, Penelope was importuned by numerous suitors,
from whom there seemed no refuge but in choosing one of them
for her husband. She, however, employed every art to gain time,
still hoping for Ulysses' return. One of her arts of delay was by
engaging in the preparation of a robe for the funeral canopy of
Laertes, her hustemd's father. She pledged herself to make her
Fig. 176. Phnw-cipe
choice among the suitors when the web was finished. During the
day she worked at it, but in the night she undid the work of the day.
That Ulysses on returning might be able to take vengeance
upon the suitors, it was important that he should not be recog-
nized. Minerva accordingly metamorphosed him into an unsightly
beggar, and as such he was kindly received by_Eum^us, the swine-
herd, a faithful servant of his house.'
Telemachus, his son, had for some time been absent in quest
of his father, visiting the courts of the other kings who had
1 O^iwey, 14.
f 340 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
returned from the Trojan expedition. While on the search, he
received counsel from Minerva to return home.' He arrived
at this juncture, and sought Eum^us to learn something of the
state of affairs at the palace before presenting himself among
the suitors. Finding a stranger with Euma^us, he treated him
courteously, though in the garb of a beggar, and promised him
assistance. Eumseus was sent to the palace to inform Penelope
privately of her son's arrival, for caution was necessary with regard
to the suitors, who, as Telemachus had learned, were plotting to
intercept and kill him. When the swineherd was gone, Minerva
presented herself to Ulysses and directed him to make himself
known to his son. At the same time she touched him, removed
at once from him the appearance of age and penury, and gave him
the aspect of vigorous manhood that belonged to him. Telema-
chus viewed him with astonishment, and at first thought he must
be more than mortal. But Ulysses announced himself as his father,
and accounted for the change of appearance by explaining that it
was Minerva's doing.
Then ihrew Telemachus
His arms around his father's neck and wept.
Desire intense of lamentation seized
On both ; soft murmurs uttering, each indulged
His grief. 3
The father and son took counsel together how they should get
the better of the suitors and punish them for their outrages. It
was arranged that Telemachus should proceed to the palace and
mingle with the suitors as formerly ; that Ulysses should also go
as a beggar, a character which in the rude old times had different
privileges from what we concede to it now. As traveler and story-
teller, the beggar was admitted in the halls of chieftains and often
treated like a guest ; though sometimes, also, no doubt, with con-
tumely. Ulysses charged his son not to betray, by any display of
unusual ititerest in him, that he knew him to be other than he
seemed, and even if he saw him insulted or beaten, not to inter-
pose otherwise than he might do for any stranger. At the palace
they found the usual scene of feasting and riot going on. The
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES
341
suitors pretended to receive Telemachus with joy at his return,
though secretly mortified at the failure of their plots to take his
life. The old beggar was permitted to enter and provided with a
portion from the table. A touching incident occurred as Ulysses
entered the cour^ard of the palace. An old dog lay in the yard
almost dead with age, and seeing a stranger enter, raised his head,
with ears erect. It was Aigua, Ulysses' own dog, that he had in
other days often led to the chase.
Soon as he perceived
Long-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears
Clapped close, and with his tail glad sign he gave
Of gratulation, impotent ta rise,
And to iq>proach his master as of old.
Ulysses, noting him, wiped off a tear
Unmarked.
. . : Then his destiny rdeased
Old Argus, soon as he had lived to see
Ulysses in the twentieth year restored.^
As Ulysses sat eating his portion in the hall, the suitors soon
began to exhibit their insolence to him. When he mildly remon-
strated, one of them
raised a stool and with
it gave him a blow.
Telemachus had hard
work to restrain his in-
dignation at seeing his
father so treated in his
own hall ; but, remem-
bering his father's in-
junctions, said no more
than what became him
as master of the house,
though young, and pro-
tector of his guests.
Once again was the wanderer all but betrayed ; — when his
agfed nurse Euryclea, bathing his feet, recognized the scar of
. 1 Odjmey, 17, 290 (CoHper's tiaiulatioa).
Fig. 177. Ulysses
' 342
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
i
^H a wound dealt him by a boar long ag;o ^ Gnef and joy over-
^H whelmed the crone and she would have revealed him to Penelope
^H had not Uljsses enjoined silence upon her
^H Penelope had protracted her decision in favor of any one of her
^H suitors so long that there seemed to be no further pretense for
^H delay The continued absence of her husband seemed to prove
^H that his return was no longer to be expected Meanwhile her
^H sen had grown up and was able to manage h s own affairs She
^H therefore consented to submit the question of her choice to a trial
^H of skill among the suitort, The test selected was shooting with the
(Left half)
bow.' Twelve rings were arranged in a line, and he whose arrow
was sent through the whole twelve was to have the queen for his
prize. A bow that one of his brother heroes had given to Ulysses
1 former times was brought from the armory and with its quiver
full of arrows was laid in the hall. Telemachus had taken care that
all other weapons should be removed, under pretense that in the
heat of competition there was danger, in some rash moment, of
putting them to an improper use.
AH things being prepared for tJie trial, the first thing to be done
was to bend the bow in order to attach the string, Telemachus
endeavored to do it, but found all his efforts fruitless ; and mod-
estly confessing that he had attempted a task beyond his strength,
I Odytaty, iii. ' OdyMey, ai.
^M THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES 343
he yielded the bow to another. He tried it with no better success,
and, amidst the laughter and jeers of his companions, gave it up.
Another tried it, and another ; they rubbed the bow with tallow, but
all to no purpose ; it would not bend. Then spoke Ulysses, hum-
bly suggesting that he should be pennitted to try ; for, said he,
"beggar as I am, I was once a soldier, and there is still some
strength in these old limbs of mine," The suitors hooted with
derision and commanded to turn him out of the hall for his inso-
^^lence. But Telemachus spoke up for him, and, merely to gratify
^R^e old man, bade him try, Ulysses took the bow and handled it
11
^H with the hand of a master. With ease he adjusted the cord to its
^f notch, then fitting an arrow to the bow he drew the string and
sped the arrow unerring through the rings.
Without allowing them time to express their astonishment, he
said, " Now for another mark ! " and aimed direct at Antinous,Jhe
most jn sol ent of the suitors,^ The arrow pierced through his throat
and he fell dead, Telemachus, Eumasus, and another faithful fol-
lower, well armed, now sprang to the side of Ulysses. The suitors,
in amazement, looked round for arms, but found none, neither
was there any way of escape, for Eumseus had secured the door.
Ulysses left them not long in uncertainty ; he announced himself
^■^as the long-lost chief, whose house they had invaded, whose
^^H ' Odywcy, 11.
(RighC half)
344 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
substance they had squandered, whose wife and son they had perse-
cuted for ten long years ; and told them he meant to have ample
vengeance. All but two were slain, and Ulysses was left master of
his palace and possessor of his kingdom and his wife.
244. Tennyson's Ulysses. Tennyson's poem of Ulysses rep-
resents the old hero, — his dangers past and nothing left but to
stay at home and be happy, — growing tired of inaction and re-
solving to set forth again in quest of new adventures.
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an ag^d wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race.
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel : I will drink
Life to the lees : all times I have enjoy 'd
Greatly, have sufferM greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone ; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea : I am become a name ;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known : cities of men,
And manners, cUmates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honor'd of them all ;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers.
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met ;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravel'd world, whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unbumish'd, not to shine in use !
As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains : but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things ; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself.
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom 1 leave the scepter and the isle —
WelMoved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labor, by slow prudence to malce mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the
Most blameless is he, centered in the spht
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, 1 mine.
There lies the port : the vessel puffs her sail :
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Soub that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought
with me —
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old ;
Old age has yet his honor and his toil ;
Death doses all : but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks :
The long day wanes : the slow moon climbs :
the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows ; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until 1 die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down :
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achillea, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides ; and tho'
We are not row that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, wt
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
CHAPTER XXV
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS
Roman Virgil, thou that singest
Ilion's lofty temples robed in fire,
Ilion falling, Rome arising,
wars, and filial faith, and Dido's pyre ;
Landscape lover, lord of language
more than he that sang the Works and Days,
All the chosen coin of fancy
flashing out from many a golden phrase ; . . .
Light among the vanished s^es ;*
star that gildest yet this phantom shore ;
Golden branch amid the shadows,
kings and realms that pass to rise no more ; . . .
Now the Rome of slaves hath perish'd,
and the Rome of freemen holds her place,
I, from out the Northern Island
sunder'd once from all the human race,
I salute thee, Mantovano,
I that loved thee since my da3r began,
Wielder of the stateliest measure
ever molded by the lips of man.^
245. From Troy to Italy. Homer tells the story of one of the
Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home
from Troy. Virgil in his iEneid^ narrates the mythical fortunes of
the remnant of the conquered people under their chief iEneas,
the son of Venus and the Trojan Anchises, in their search for a
1 From Tennyson's To Virgil.
S For Virgil, see § 299 ; for translations of his .£neid, see corresponding section in
ComiDeiDtary,
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS
347
new home after the ruin of their native dly. On that fatal night
when the wooden horse disgorged its contents of armed men, and
the capture and conflagration of the ci^ were the result, Mneas
made his escape from the scene of
destruction, with his father and his
wife and young son. The father,
Anchises, was too old to walk with
the speed required, and j^neas took
him upon his shoulders. Thus bur-
dened, leading his son and followed
by his wife, he made the best of his
way out of the burning city ; but in
the confusion his wife, Creiisa, was
swept away and lost.
246. The Departure from Troy.
On arriving at the place of rendez-
vous, numerous fugitives of both
sexes were found, who put them-
selves under the guidance of ^neas. """■ "*''^o''i*'^'„f'"'*"^^'
Some months were spent in prep-
aration, and at length they embarked. They first landed on the
neighboring shores of Thrace, and were preparing to build a city,
but JEneaiS was deterred by a prodigy. Preparing to offer sacrifice,
he tore some twigs from one of the bushes. To his dismay the
wounded part dropped blood. When he repeated the act, a voice
from the ground cried out to him, " Spare me, .£neas ; I am thy
kinsman, Polydore, here murdered with many arrows, from which
a bush has grown, nourished with my blood." These words recalled
to the recollection of ^neas that Polydore was a young prince of
Troy, whom his father had sent with ample treasures to the neigh-
boring land of Thrace, to be there brought up, at a distance from
the horrors of war. The king to whom he was sent had murdered
him and seized his treasures. .(Eneas and his companions, consid-
ering the land accursed by the stain of such a crime, hastened airay.
247. The Promised Empire. They next landed on the island of
Delos. Here jEneas consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received
an answer, ambiguous as usual, — "Seek thy ancient mother;
348 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
there the race of ^Eneas shall dwell, and reduce all other nations
to their sway." The Trojans heard with joy and immediately
began to a3k one another, ** Where is the spot intended by the
oracle ? " Anchises remembered that there was a tradition that
their forefathers came from Crete, and thither they resolved to
steer. They arrived at Crete and began to build their city ; but
sickness broke out among them, and the fields that they had
planted, failed to yield a crop. In this gloomy aspect of affairs,
^neas was warned in a dream to leave the country and seek a
western land called Hesperia, whence Dardanus, the true founder
of the Trojan race, was reported to have migrated. To Hesperia,
now called Italy, they therefore directed their future course, and
not till after many adventures, and the lapse of time sufficient tg
carry a modem navigator several times round the world, did they
arrive there.
248. The Harpies. Their first landing was at the island of the
Harpies. These were disgusting birds, with the heads of maidens,
with long claws, and faces pale with hunger. They were sent by
the gods to torment a certain Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived
of his sight in punishment of his cruelty ; and whenever a meal
was placed before him, the harpies darted down from the air and
carried it off. They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes
of the Argonautic expedition, and took refuge in the island where
^neas now found them. When the Trojans entered the port they
saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain. They slew as many as
they wished, and prepared for a feast. But no sooner had they
seated themselves at the table than a horrible clamor was heard
in the air, and a flock of these odious harpies came rushing down
upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and
flying away with it. ^Eneas and his companions drew their swords
and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose,
for they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and
their feathers were, like armor, impenetrable to steel. One of them,
perched on a neighboring cHff, screamed out, " Is it thus, Trojans,
ye treat us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle and then make
war on ourselves ? " She then predicted dire sufferings to them
•n their future course, and, having vented her wrath, flew away.
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS
349
249. Epiras. The Trojans made haste to leave the country, and
next found themselves coasting along the shore of Epirus. Here
they landed and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan
exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers
of the country. Andromache, the widow of Hector, had borne
three sons to Neoptolemus in Epirus. But when he cast her off
for Hermione, he left her to her fellow-captive, Hclenus, Hector's
brother. Now that Neoptolemus was dead she had become the
wife of Helenus ; and they ruled the realm. Helenus and Androm-
ache treated the exiles with the utmost hospitality, and dismissed
them loaded with gifts.
250. The Cyclopes Again. From hence ^neas coasted along
the shore of Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclopes. Here
they were hailed from the shore by a miserable object, whom by his
garments tattered, as they were,
they perceived to be a Greek
He told them he was one of
Ulysses companions left be
hind by that chief m his hur
ried departure He related the
story of Ulysses adventure with
Polyphemus and besought them
to take him off with them as
he had no meanb of sustaining
his existence where he was but
wild berries and roots and lived .._„_„__ __ .
in constant fear of the Cyclopes. y ■ &
While he spoke Polyphemus
made his appearance, — terrible, shapeless, vast, and, of course,
blind.^ He walked with cautious steps, feeling his way with a
staff, down to the seaside, to wash his eye-socket in the waves.
When he reached the water he waded out towards them, and his
immense height enabled him to advance far into the sea, so that
the Trojans in terror took to their oars to get out of his way.
Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them so that the
shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopes came forth
, iH/ormt, b^tKi,adbaiuti adet^tam. — £aeid, 3, 6jS.
He^o
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
I
from their caves and woods, and lined the shore, like a row of
lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them
out of sight,
JEneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded
by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. There Ulysses, the reader
will remember, had lost six of his men, seized by Scylla while the
navigators were wholly intent upon avoiding Charybdis. ^neas,
following the advice of Helenus, shunned the dangerous pass and
coasted along the island of Sicily.
' 251. The Resentment of Juno. Now Juno, seeing the Trojans
speeding their way prosperously towards their destined shore, felt
her old grudge against them revive, for she could not forget the
slight that Paris had put upon her in awarding the prize of beauty
to another. In heavenly minds can such resentment dwell ! '
Accordingly she gave orders to /Eolus, who sent forth his sons,
Boreas, Typhon, and the other winds, to toss the ocean, A terrible
storm ensued, and the Trojan ships were driven out of their course
towards the coast of Africa, They were in imminent danger of
being wrecked, and were separated, so that ^neas thought that
all were lost except his own vessel.
At this crisis, Neptune, hearing the storm raging, and knowing
that he had given no orders for one, raised his head above the
waves and saw the fleet of -Eneas driving before the gale. Under-
standing the hostility of Juno, he was at no loss to account for it,
but his anger was not the less at this interference in his province.
He called the winds and dismissed them with a severe reprimand.
He then soothed the waves, and brushed away the clouds from
before the face of the sun. Some of the ships which had got on
the rocks he pried off with his own trident, while Triton and a
sea-nymph, putting their shoulders under others, set them afloat
again. The Trojans, wiien the sea became calm, sought the near-
est shore, — the coast of Carthage, where /Eneas was so happy as
to find that one by one the ships all arrived safe, though badly
shaken.
252. The Sojourn at Carthage. Dido. Carthage, where the
exiles had now arrived, was a spot on the coast of Africa opposite
1 TaH/aau aHimii eeeUitihu irai? — JEotii, i, ii.
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS 35 1
Sicily, where at that time a Tyrian colony under Dido, their queen,
were laying the foundations of a state destined in later ages to be
the rival of Rome itself. Dido was the daughter of Belus, king of
Tyre, and sister of Pygmalion, who succeeded his father on the
throne. Her husband was Sichaeus, a man of immense wealth,
but Pygmalion, who coveted his treasures, caused him to be put to
death. Dido, with a numerous body of friends and followers, both
men and women, succeeded in effecting their escape from Tyre, in
several vessels, carrying with them the treasures of Sichaeus. On
arriving at the spot which they selected as the seat of their future
home, they asked of the natives only so much land as they could
inclose with a bulFs hide. When this was readily granted, the
queen caused the hide to be cut into strips, and with them in-
closed a spot on which she built a citadel, and called it Byrsa
(a hide). Around this fort the city of Carthage rose, and soon
became a powerful and flourishing place.
Such was the state of affairs when ^neas with his Trojans ar-
rived there. Dido received the illustrious exiles with friendliness
and hospitality. ** Not unacquainted with distress," she said, ** I
have learned to succor the unfortunate." ^ The queen's hospitality
displayed itself in festivities at which games of strength and skill
were exhibited. The strangers contended for the palm with her
own subjects on equal terms, the queen declaring that whether
the victor were " Trojan or T)nian should make no difference to
her." 2 At the feast which followed the games, ^Eneas gave at her
request a recital of the closing events of the Trojan history and his
own adventures after the fall of the city. Dido was charmed with
his discourse and filled with admiration of his exploits. She con-
ceived an ardent passion for him, and he for his part seemed well
content to accept the fortunate chance which appeared to offer
him at once a happy termination of his wanderings, a home, a
kingdom, and a bride. Months rolled away in the enjoyment of
pleasant intercourse, and it seemed as if Italy and the empire
destined to be founded on its shores were alike forgotten. See-
ing which, Jupiter dispatched Mercury with a message to iEneas
1 Haud ignara malty miseris succurrere disco, — i^lneid, i, 630.
2 Tros Tyrmsve miAi nuUo discrimme agetur, — .£neid i, 574.
352 THE CLASSIC MVIHS
recalling him to a sense of his high destiny, and commanding him
to resume his voyage.
JEne3.s parted from Dido, though she tried every allurement and
persuasion to detain him. The blow to her affection and her pride
was too much for her to endure, and when she found that he was
gone, she mounted a funeral pile which she had caused to be pre-
pared, and having stabbed herself was consumed with the pile.
The fiames rising over the city were seen by the departing Tro-
jans, and, though the cause was unknown, gave to jEneas some
intimation of the fatal event,
253. Palinurus. Italy at Last. After touching at the island
of Sicily, where Acestes, a prince of Trojan lineage, bore sway,
and gave them a hospitable reception, the Trojans reembarked
and held on their course for Italy, Venus now interceded with
Neptune to allow her son at last to attain the wished-for goal and
find an end of his perils on the deep, Neptune consented, stipu-
lating only for one life as a ransom for the rest. The victim was
Palinurus, the pilot. As he sat watching the stars with his hand
on the helm, Somnus, sent by Neptune, approached in the guise of
Phorbas, and said, " Palinurus, the breeze is fair, the water smooth,
and the ship sails steadily on her course. Lie down awhile and
take needful rest. I will stand at the helm in thy place." Palinurus
replied, "Tell me not of smooth seas or favoring winds, — me who
have seen so much of their treachery. Shall I trust ^neas to
the chances of the weather and the winds ? " And he continued
to grasp the helm and to keep his eyes fixed on the stars. But
Somnus waved over him a branch moistened with Lethtean dew,
and his eyes closed in spite of all his efforts. Then Somnus pushed
him overboard, and he fell ; but as he kept his hold upon the helm,
it came away with him. Neptune was mindful of his promise, and
held the ship on her track without helm or pilot till Mneas dis-
covered his loss and, sorrowing deeply for his faithful steersman,
took charge of the ship himself. Under his guidance the shipa
at last reached the shores of Italy, and joyfully the adventurers
leaped to land.
354. The Sibyl of Cuma$. While his people were employed in
t making their encampment, ^neas sought the abode of the Sibyl.
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS
353
It was a cave connected with a temple and grove, sacred to Apollo
and Diana. While ^neas contemplated the scene, the Sibyl ac-
costed him. She seemed to know his errand, and, under the in-
fluence of the deity of the place, burst forth in a prophetic strain,
giving dark intimations of labors and perils through which he was
destined to make his way to final success. She closed with the en-
couraging words which
have become proverb-
ial: "Yield not to
disasters, but press
onward the more
bravely."' jEneas re-
plied that he had
prepared himself for
whatever might await
him. He had but one
request to make. Hav
ing been directed in
a dream to seek the
abode of the dead m
order to confer with
his father Anchises to
receive from him a
revelation of his future
fortunes and those of
his race, he asked her
assistance to enable
him to accomplish the
task. The Sibyl re-
plied ; "The descent to Avemus is easy ; the gate of Pluto stands
open night and day ; but to retrace one's steps and return to the
upper air, that is the toil, that the difficulty." ^ She instructed him
to seek in the forest a tree on which grew a golden branch. This
Fig. 183. The Cum^an Sibyi.
From the painting by Michelangelo
Nixits alqai dies fatet atrijanltit Dili
Sed revocare gradum, sufirasqiu evadt
Hei afus,Aic taiortsl. — ■'Eiieid, 6, lal
354 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
i
^H branch was to be plucked off and borne as a gift to Proserpine,
^H and if fate was propitious, it would yield to the hand and quit its
^H parent trunk, but otherwise no force could rend it away. If torn
^H away, another would succeed,
^H ^neas followed the directions of the Sibyl. His mother, Venus,
^H sent two of her doves to fly before him and show him the way,
^H and by their assistance he found the tree, plucked the branch,
^V and hastened back with it to the Sibyl,
255. The Infernal Regions. The region where Virgi! locates
the entrance to the infernal regions is, perhaps, the most strikingly
adapted to excite ideas of the terrific and preternatural of any on
the face of the earth. It is the volcanic region near Vesuvius,
where the whole country is cleft with chasms from which sulphur-
ous flames arise, while the ground is shaken with pent-up vapors,
I and mysterious sounds issue from the bowels of the earth. The
lake Avemus is supposed to fill the crater of an extinct volcano.
It is circular, half a mile wide and very deep, surrounded by high
banks, which in Virgil's time were covered with a gloomy forest.
Mephitic vapors rise from its waters, so that no life is found on
its banks, and no birds fly over it. Here ^neas offered sacrifices
to the infernal deities, Proserpine, Hecate, and the Puries. Then
a roaring was heard in the earth, the woods on the hilltops were
shaken, and the howling of dogs announced the approach of the
deities. " Now," said the Sibyl, " summon thy courage, for thou
shait need it." She descended into the cave of Avemus, and
vEneas followed. Before the threshold of hell they passed through
a group of beings who are enumerated as Griefs and avenging
Cares, pale Diseases, and melancholy Age, Fear and Hunger that
tempt to crime, Toil, Poverty, and Death, — forms horrible to view.
■ The Furies spread their couches there, and Discord, whose hair
was of vipers tied up with a bloody fillet. Here also were the
monsters, Briareus, with his hundred arms, Hydras hissing, and
Chimieras breathing fire, jEneas shuddered at the sight, drew his
sword and would have struck, but the Sibyl restrained him. They
then came to the black river Cocytus, where they found the ferry-
man Charon, old and squalid, but strong and vigorous, who waa
reaavjn^ passengers of all kinds into his boat, stout-hearted heroe^
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS 355
boys and unmarried giris, as numerous as the leaves that fall at
autumn or the flocks that fly southward at the approach of winter.
They stood pressing for a passage and longing to touch the oppo-
site shore. But the stem ferryman took in only such as he chose,
driving the rest back. ^Eneas, wondering at the sight, asked the
Sibyl, ** Why this discrimination ? " She answered, ** Those who
are taken on board the bark are the souls of those who have re-
ceived due burial rites ; the host of others who have remained un-
buried are not permitted to pass the flood, but wander a hundred
years, and flit to and fro about the shore, till at last they are taken
over." iEneas grieved at recollecting some of his own compan-
ions who had perished in the storm. At that moment he beheld
Palinurus, his pilot, who fell overboard and was drowned. He ad-
dressed him and asked him the cause of his misfortune. Palinurus
replied that the rudder was carried away, and he, clinging to it, was
swept away with it. He besought ^neas most urgently to extend
to him his hand and take him in company to the opposite shore.
The Sibyl rebuked him for the wish thus to transgress the laws
of Pluto, but consoled him by informing him that the people of
the shore where his body had been wafted by the waves should
be stirred up by prodigies to give it due burial, and that the prom-
ontory should bear the name of Cape Palinurus, — and so it does
to this day. Leaving Palinurus consoled by these words, they ap-
proached the boat. Charon, fixing his^ eyes sternly upon the ad-
vancing warrior, demanded by what right he, living and armed,
approached that shore. To which the Sibyl replied that they would
commit no violence, that Eneas' only object was to see his father,
and finally exhibited the golden branch, at sight of which Charon's
wrath relaxed, and he made haste to turn his bark to the shore
and receive them on board. The boat, adapted only to the light
freight of bodiless spirits, groaned under the weight of the hero.
They were soon conveyed to the opposite shore. There they were
encountered by the three-headed dog Cerberus, with his necks
bristling with snakes. He barked with all three throats till the
Sibyl threw him a medicated cake, which he eagerly devoured, and
then stretched himself out in his den and fell asleep, ^neas and
the Sibyl sprang to land. The first sound that struck their eass*
I ^56 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I was the wailing of young children who had died on the threshold
of life ; and near to these were those who had perished under false
charges. Minos presides over them as judge and examines the
deeds of each. The next class was of those who had died by their
own hand, hating life and seeking refuge in death. How will-
ingly would they now endure poverty, labor, and any other infliction
if they might but return to life ! Next were situated the regions
of sadness, divided off into retired paths, leading through groves
of myrtle. Here roamed those who had fallen victims to unrequited
love, not freed from pain even by death itself. Among these
^neas thought he descried the form of Dido, with a wound still
recent. In the dim light he was for a moment uncertain, but
approaching, perceived it was indeed she. Tears fell from his
eyes, and he addressed her in the accents of love, " Unhappy
Dido I was then the rumor true that thou hadst perished ? And
was I, alas ! the cause ? I call the gods to witness that my depar-
ture from thee was reluctant and in obedience to the commands
of Jove ; nor could I believe that my absence would have cost thee
so dear. Stop, I beseech thee, and refuse me not a last farewell."
She stood for a moment with averted countenance and eyes fixed
on the ground, and then silently passed on, as insensible to his
pleadings as a rock, j^neas followed for some distance, then
with a heavy heart rejoined his companion and resumed his route.
They next entered the fields where roam the heroes who have
fallen in battle. Here they saw many shades of Grecian and Tro-
jan warriors. The Trojans thronged around him and could not
be satisfied with the sight. They asked the cause of his coming
and plied him with innumerable questions. But the Greeks, at the
sight of his armor glittering through the murky atmosphere, rec-
ognized the hero, and, filled with terror, turned their backs and fied,
as they used to do on the plains of Troy.
/Eneas would have lingered long with his Trojan friends, but
the Sibyl hurried him away. They next came to a place where the
road divided, the one way leading to Elysium, the other to the
regions of the condemned. ^Eneas beheld on one side the walls
of a mighty city, around which Phlegethon rolled its fiery waters.
Before him was the gate of adamant that neither gods nor mea.
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS 357
can break through. An iron tower stood by the gate, on which
Tisiphone, the avenging Fury, kept guard. From the city were
heard groans, and the sound of the scourge, the creaking of iron,
and the clanking of chains. iEneas, horror-stricken, inquired of
his guide what crimes were those whose punishments produced
the sounds he heard. The Sibyl answered, "Here is the judgment
hall of Rhadamanthus, who brings to light crimes done in life
which the perpetrator vainly thought impenetrably hid. Tisiphone
applies her whip of scorpions and delivers the offender over to
her sister Furies." At this moment with horrid clang the brazen
gates unfolded, and within, iEneas saw a Hydra with fifty heads
guarding the entrance. The Sibyl told him that the gulf of Tar-
tarus descended deep, so that its recesses were as far beneath their
feet as heaven was high above their heads. In the bottom of this
pit the Titan race, who warred against the gods, lie prostrate ;
Salmoneus also, who presumed to vie with Jupiter, and built a
bridge of brass over which he drove his chariot that the sound
might resemble thunder, launching flaming brands at his people
in imitation of lightning, till Jupiter struck him with a real thunder-
bolt and taught him the difference between mortal weapons and
divine. Here also is Tityus, the giant, whose form is so inunense
that, as he lies, he stretches over nine acres, while a vulture preys
upon his liver, which as fast as it is devoured grows again, so that
his punishment will have no end.
-^neas saw groups seated at tables loaded with dainties, while
near by stood a Fury who snatched away the viands from their lips
as fast as they prepared to taste them. Others beheld suspended
over their heads huge rocks, threatening to fall, keeping them in
a state of constant alarm. These were they who had hated their
brothers, or struck their parents, or defrauded the friends who
trusted them, or who, having grown rich, kept their money to
themselves and gave no share to others, — the last being the most
numerous class. Here also were those who had violated the mar-
riage vow, or fought in a bad cause, or failed in fidelity to their
employers. Here was one who had sold his country for gold,
another who perverted the laws, making them say one thing to-day
and another to-morrow.
^3S8 fHE CLASSIC MYTHS
Ixion was there, fastened to the circumference of a wheel cease-
lessly revolving ; and Sisyphus, whose task was to roll a huge stone
up to a hilltop ; but when the steep was well-nigh gained, the rock,
repulsed by some sudden force, rushed again headlong down to
the plain. Again he toiled at it, while the sweat bathed all his
weary limbs, but all to no effect. There was Tantalus, who stood
in a pool his chin level with the water, yet he was parched with
I
thirst and found nothing to assuage it ; for when he bowed his
hoary head, eager to quaff, the water fled away, leaving the ground
at his feet all dry. Tall trees, laden with fruit, stooped their heads
to him, — pears, pomegranates, apples, and luscious figs ; but when,
with a sudden grasp. He tried to seize them, winds whirled them
high above his reach.
256. The Elysian Fields. The Sibyl now warned .^neas that
it was time to turn from these melancholy regions and seek the
ci^ of the blessed. They passed through a middle tract of dark-
and came upon the Elysian Fields, the groves where the happy
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS 359
reside. They breathed a freer air and saw all objects clothed in a
purple light. The region had a sun and stars of its own. The
inhabitants were enjoying themselves in various ways, some in
sports on the grassy turf, in games of strength or skill, others
dancing or singing. Orpheus struck the chords of his lyre and
called forth ravishing sounds. Here iEneas saw the founders of
the Trojan state, gre^t-hearted heroes who lived in happier times.
He gazed with admiration on the war chariots and glittering arms
now reposing in disuse. Spears stood fixed in the ground, and the
horses, unharnessed, roamed over the plain. The same pride in
splendid armor and generous steeds which the old heroes felt in
life accompanied them here. He saw another group feasting and
listening to the strains of music. They were in a laurel grove,
whence the great river Po has its origin and flows out among
men. Here dwelt those who fell by wounds received in their
country's cause, holy priests also, and poets who have uttered
thoughts worthy of Apollo, and others who have contributed to
cheer and adorn life by their discoveries in the useful arts, and
have made their memory blessed by rendering service to mankind.
They wore snow-white fillets about their brows. The Sibyl ad-
dressed a group of these and inquired where Anchises was to be
found. They were directed where to seek him, and soon found
him in a verdant valley, where he was contemplating the ranks
of his posterity, their destinies and worthy deeds to be achieved
in corfiing times. When he recognized iEneas approaching, he
stretched out both hands to him, while tears flowed freely. " Dost
thou come at last,*' said he, '' long expected, and do I behold thee
after such perils past ? O my son, how have I trembled for thee,
as I have watched thy course 1 ** To which iEneas replied, ** O
father ! thy image was always before me to guide and guard me."
Then he endeavored to infold his father in his embrace, but his
arms inclosed only an unsubstantial shade.
257. The Valley of Oblivion, -^neas perceived before him a
spacious valley, with trees gently waving to the wind, a tranquil
landscape, through which the river Lethe flowed. Along the banks
of the stream wandered a countless multitude, numerous as insects
in the summer air. -^neas, with surprise, inquired who were these.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
F
^■Anchises answered: "They are souls to which bodies are to be
^Hl given in due time. Meanwhile they dwell on Lethe's bank and
^* drink oblivion of their former lives." " O father !" said ^neas, " is
it possible that any can be so in love with life as to wish to h
these tranquil seats for the upper world ? " Anchises replied by
explaining the plan of creation. The Creator, he told him, origi-
nally made the material of which souls are composed, of the four
elements, fire, air, earth, and water, all which when united took
I the form of the most excellent part, fire, and became jfawe. This
material was scattered like seed among the heavenly bodies, the
sun, moon, and stars, Of this seed the inferior gods created man
and all other animals, mingling it with various proportions of earth,
by which its purity was alloyed and reduced. Thus the more earth
predominates in the composition, the less pure is the individual ;
and we see that men and women with their full-grown bodies have
not the purity of childhood. So in proportion to the time which
the union of body and soul has lasted, is the impurity contracted
I by the spiritual part. This impurity must be purged away after
death, which is done by ventilating the souls in the current of
winds, or merging them in waterj or burning out their impurities
by fire. Some few, of whom Anchises intimates that he is one,
are admitted at once to Elysium, there to remain. But the rest,
after the impurities of earth are purged away, are sent back to life
endowed with new bodies, having had the remembrance of their
former lives effectually washed away by the waters of Lethe. Some
souls, however, there still are, so thoroughly corrupted that they
^H are not fit to be intrusted with human bodies, and these pass fcy
^H metempsychosis into the bodies of brute animals.
^^^ Anchises, having explained so much, proceeded to point out to
^V ^neas individuals of his race who were hereafter to be bom, and
^V to relate to him the exploits they should perform in the world.
^B After this he reverted to the present, and told his son of the
^^ events that remained to him to be accomplished before the com-
^H plete establishment of himself and his followers in Italy. Wars
^B were to be waged, battles fought, a bride to be won, and, in the
^Bresult, a Trojan state founded, from which should rise the Roman
^B'power, to be in time the sovereign of the world.
ADVENTURES OF ^NEAS 36 1
As -^neas and the Sibyl pursued their way back to earth, he
said to her: ** Whether thou be a goddess or a mortal beloved by
the gods, by me thou shalt always be held in reverence. When I
reach the upper air, I will cause a temple to be built to thy honor,
and will myself bring offerings." '' I am no goddess," said the
Sibyl ; ** I have no claims to sacrifice or offering. I am mortal,
yet, could I but have accepted the love of Apollo, I might have
been immortal. He promised me the fulfillment of my wish, if I
would consent to be his. I took a handful of sand and, holding it
forth, said, * Grant me to see as many birthdays as there are sand-
grains in my hand.* Unluckily I forgot to ask for enduring youth.
This also he would have granted could I have accepted his love,
but, offended at my refusal, he allowed me to grow old. My youth
and youthful strength fled long ago. I have lived seven hundred
years, and to equal the number of the sand-grains I have still to
see three hundred springs and three hundred harvests. My body
shrinks up as years increase, and in time I shall be lost to sight,
but my voice will remain, and future ages will respect my sayings."
These concluding words of the Sibyl alluded to her prophetic
power. In her cave she was accustomed to inscribe on leaves
gathered from the trees the names and fates of individuals. The
leaves thus inscribed were arranged in order within the cave, and
might be consulted by her votaries. But if, perchance, at the
opening of the door the wind rushed in and dispersed the leaves,
the Sibyl gave no aid to restoring them again, and the oracle was
irreparably lost.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS
258. The Fulfillment of Prophecy. Mneas, having parted from
the Sibyl and rejoined his fleet, coasted along the shores of Italy
and cast anchor in the mouth of the Tiber. The poet, having
brought his hero to this spot, the destined termination of his wan-
derings, invokes his Muse to tell him the situation of things at
that eventful moment. Latinus, third in descent from Satiim, ruled
the country. He was now old and had no male descendant, but
had one charming daughter, Lavinia, who was sought in marriage
by many neighboring chiefs, one of whom, Tumus, king of the
Rutulians, was favored by the wishes of her parents. But Latinus
had been warned in a dream by his father, Faunus, that the destined
husband of Lavinia should come from a foreign land. From that
union should spring a race destined to subdue the world.
' Our readers will remember that in the conflict with the harpies,
one of those half-human birds had threatened the Trojans with
dire sufferings. In particular, she predicted that before their wan-
derings ceased they should be pressed by hunger to devour their
tables. This portent now came true ; for as they took their scanty
meal, seated on the grass, the men placed their hard biscuit on
their laps and put thereon whatever their gleanings in the woods
supplied. Having dispatched the latter, they finished by eating the
crusts. Seeing which, the boy lulus said playfully, " See ! we are
eating our tables." JEneas caught the words and accepted the
omen. **A11 hail, promised land! "he exclaimed, "this is our
home, this our country ! " He then took measures to find out who
were the present inhabitants of the land and who their rulers. A
hundred chosen men were sent to the village of Latinus, bearing
presents and a request for friendship and alliance. They went and
tre favorably received. Latinus immediately concluded that the
362
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 363
Trojan hero was no other than the promised son-in-law announced
by the oracle. He cheerfully granted his alliance, and sent back
the messengers mounted on steeds from his stables and loaded
with gifts and friendly messages.
Juno, seeing things go thus prosperously for the Trojans, felt
her old animosity revive, summoned Alecto from Erebus, and sent
her to stir up discord. The Fury first took possession of the queen,
Amata, and roused her to oppose in every way the new alliance.
Alecto then sped to the city of Tumus and, assuming the form of
an old priestess, informed him of the arrival of the foreigners and
of the attempts of their prince to rob him of his betrothed. Next she
turned her attention to the camp of the Trojans. There she saw
the boy lulus and his companions amusing themselves with hunt-
ing. She sharpened the scent of the dogs and led them to rouse
up from the thicket a tame stag, the favorite of Silvia, the daugh-
ter of Tyrrheus, the king's herdsman. A javelin from the hand of
lulus wounded the animal, which had only strength left to run home-
ward and die at its mistress's feet. Her cries and tears roused her
brothers and the herdsmen, and they, seizing whatever weapons
came to hand, furiously assaulted the hunting party. These were
protected by their friends, and the herdsmen were finally driven
back with the loss of two of their number.
These things were enough to rouse the storm of war, and the
queen, Turnus, and the peasants all urged the old king to drive
tJie strangers from the country. He resisted as long as he could,
but, finding his opposition unavailing, finally gave way and re-
treated to his retirement.
259. The Gates of Janus Opened. It was the custom of the
country, when war was to be undertaken, for the chief magistrate,
clad in his robes of office, with solemn pomp to open the gates of
the temple of Janus, which were kept shut as long as peace en-
dured. His people now urged the old king to perform that solemn
office, but he refused to do so. While they contested, Juno herself,
descending from the skies, smote the doors with irresistible force
and burst them open. Immediately the whole country was in a
flame. The people rushed from every side, breathing nothing
but war.
'364
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
P
^H Tumus was recognized by all as leader ; others joined as allies,
^V chief of whom was Mezentius, a brave and able soldier, but of de-
testable cruelty. He had been the chief of one of the neighboring
cities, but his people drove him out. With him was joined his son
Lausus, a generous youth worthy of a better sire.
1260. Camilla. Camilla, the favorite of Diana, a huntress and
warrior after IJie fashion of the Amazons, came with her band of
mounted followers, including a select number of her own sex, and
ranged herself on the side of Turnus. This maiden had never
accustomed her fingers to the distaff or the
^\ loom, but had learned to endure the toils of
^^^^ war and in speed to outstrip the wind. It
^^^^^ seemed as if she might run over the stand-
{jT^^^\\ ^\ ing C'src^. without crushing it, or over the sur-
JSiM .)! ,mi-.\ fg^ q£ ^g water without dipping her feet.
Camilla's history had been singular from the
beginning. Her father, Metabus, driven from
his city by civil discord, carried with him in
his flight his infant daughter. As he fled
through the woods, his enemies in hot pur-
suit, he reached the bank of the river Amase-
nus, which, swelled by rains, seemed to debar
a passage. He paused for a moment, then
■ VifflVy 'S^'^ decided what to do. He tied the infant to his
Fig i8( Amazon lance with wrappers of bark, and poising the
weapon in his upraised hand, thus addressed
Diana : " Goddess of the woods ! I consecrate this maid to thee " ;
then hurled the weapon with its burden to the opposite bank. The
spear flew across the roaring water. His pursuers were already
• upon him, but he plunged into the river, and swam across, and
found the spear with the infant safe on the other side. Thence-
forth he lived among the shepherds and brought up his daughter
in woodland arts. While a child she was taught to use the bow
and throw the javelin. With her sling she could bring down the
crane or the wild swan. Her dress was a tiger's skin. Many
mothers sought her for a daughter-in-law, but she continued faith-
\iul to Diana and repelled the thought of marriage.
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 365
261. Alliance with Evander. Such were the formidable allies
that ranged themselves against -^neas. It was night, and he lay
stretched in sleep on the bank of the river under the open heavens.
The god of the stream, Father Tiber, seemed to raise his head
above the willows and to say : " O goddess-bom, destined possessor
of the Latin realms, this is the promised land; here is to be thy
home, here shall terminate the hostility of the heavenly powers, if
only thou faithfully persevere. There are friend^ not far distant.
Prepare thy boats and row up my stream ; I will lead thee to Evan-
der, the Arcadian chief. He has long been at strife with Tumus
and the Rutulians, and is prepared to become an ally of thine.
Rise ! offer thy vows to Juno and deprecate her anger. When thou
hast achieved thy victory, then think of me." -^neas woke and paid
immediate obedience to the friendly vision. He sacrificed to Juno,
and invoked the god of the river and all his tributary fountains to
lend their aid. Then for the first time a vessel filled with armed
warriors floated on the stream of the Tiber. The river smoothed
its waves and bade its current flow gently, while, impelled by the
vigorous strokes of the rowers, the vessel shot rapidly up the stream.
About the middle of the day they came in sight of the scattered
buildings of the infant town where in after times the proud city of
Rome grew, whose glory reached the skies. By chance the old king,
Evander, was that day celebrating annual solemnities in honor of
Hercules and all the gods. Pallas, his son, and all the chiefs of
the little commonwealth stood by. When they saw the tall ship
gliding onward through the wood, they were alarmed at the sight
and rose from the tables. But Pallas forbade the solemnities to be
interrupted and, seizing a weapon, stepped forward to the river's
bank. He called aloud, demanding who the strangers were and
what their object, -^neas, holding forth an olive branch, replied:
** We are Trojans, friends to you and enemies to the Rutulians.
We seek Evander and offer to join our arms with yours." Pallas,
in amaze at the sound of so great a name, invited them to land,
and when -^neas touched the shore, he seized his hand and held
it long in friendly grasp. Proceeding through the wood they joined
the king and his party, and were most favorably received. Seats
were provided for them at the tables, and the repast proceededi
366 • THE CLASSIC MYTHS
262. The Site of Future Rome. When the solemnities were
ended, all moved towards the city. The king, bending with age,
walked between his son and ^neas, taking the arm of one or the
other of them, and with much variety of pleasing talk shortening
the way. ^neas with delight looked and listened, observing all
the beauties of the scene and learning much of heroes renowned
I ancient times. Evander said : " These extensive groves were
once inhabited by fauns and nymphs, and a rude race of men who
sprang from the trees themselves and had neither laws nor social
culture. They knew not how to yoke the cattle, nor raise a harvest,
r provide from present abundance for future want, but browsed
like beasts upon the leafy boughs or fed voraciously on their hunted
prey. Such were they when Saturn, expelled from Olympus by
his sons, came among them and drew together the fierce savages,
formed them into society, and gave them laws. Such peace and
plenty ensued that men ever since have called his reign the Golden
Age ; but by degrees far other times succeeded, and the thirst of
d and the thirst of blood prevailed. The land was a prey to suc-
cessive tyrants till fortune and resisdess destiny brought me iiither,
n exile from my native land, Arcadia."
Having thus said, he showed him the Tarpeian rock, and the
rude spot, then overgrown with bushes, where in after times the
Capitol was to rise in all its magnificence. He next pointed to
some dismantled walls and said, " Here stood Janiculum, built by
Janus, and there Satuniia, the town of Saturn." Such discourse
brought them to the cottage of Evander, whence they saw the low-
ing herds roaming over the plain where soon should stand the
proud and stately Forum. They entered, and a couch, well stuffed
with leaves and covered with the skin of a Libyan bear, was spread
for ^neas.
Next morning, awakened by the dawn and the shrill song of birds-
beneath the eaves of his low mansion, old Evander rose. Clad in a
tunic, and a panther's skin thrown over his shoulders, with sandals
on his feet and his good sword girded to his side, he went forth to
seek his guest. Two mastiffs followed him, — his whole retinue and
bodyguard. He found the hero attended by his faithful Achate^
and Pallas soon joining them, the old king spoke thus :
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 367
" Illustrious Trojan, it is but little we can do in so great a cause.
Our state is feeble, hemmed in on one side by the river, on the
other by the Rutulians. But I propose to ally thee with a people
numerous and rich, to whom fate has brought thee at the propi-
tious moment. The Etruscans hold the country beyond the river.
Mezentius was their king, a monster of cruelty, who invented un-
heard-of torments to gratify his vengeance. He would fasten the
dead to the living, hand to hand and face to face, and leave the
wretched victims to die in that dreadful embrace. At length peo-
ple cast him out, him and his house. They burned his palace,
and slew his friends. He escaped and took refuge with Tumus,
who protects him with arms. The Etruscans demand that he shall
be given up to deserved punishment, and would ere now have at-
tempted to enforce their demand ; but their priests restrain them,
telling them that it is the will of heaven that no native of the
land shall guide them to victory and that their destined leader
must come from across the sea. They have offered the crown to
me, but I am too old to undertake such great affairs, and my son is
native-bom, which precludes him from the choice. Thou, equally
by birth and time of life and fame in arms pointed out by the
gods, hast but to appear to be hailed at once as their leader.
With thee I will join Pallas, my son, my only hope and comfort.
Under thee he shall learn the art of war and strive to emulate
thy great exploits.'*
Then the king ordered horses to be furnished for the Trojan
chiefs, and iEneas, with a chosen band of followers and Pallas
accompanying, mounted and took the way to the Etruscan city,^
having sent back the rest of his party in the ships, -^neas and
his band safely arrived at the Etruscan camp and were received
with open arms by Tarchon and his countrymen.
263. Tumus attacks the Trojan Camp. In the meanwhile Tur-
nus had collected his bands and made all necessary preparations
for the war. Juno sent Iris to him with a message inciting him to
take advantage of the absence of iEneas and surprise the Trojan
camp. Accordingly the attempt was made ; but the Trojans were
1 The poet here inserts a famous line which is thought to imitate in its sound the gallop'
ing of horses : Quadrupedante piitrem soniiu quaiii ungula cam^um^ — i€xk&v^>%> V#^.
I
36S THE CLASSIC MYTHS
found on their guard, and having received strict orders from vEneas
not to fight in his absence, they lay still in their intrenchments and
resisted all the efforts of the Rutulians to draw them into the field.
Night coming on, the army of Tumus, in high spirits at their
fancied superiority, feasted and enjoyed themselves, and finally
stretched themselves on the field and slept secure.
264. Hisus and Euryalus. In the camp of the Trojans things
■ere far otherwise. There all was watchfulness and anxiety, and
impatience for Eneas' return. Nisus stood guard at the entrance
of the camp, and Euryalus, a youth distinguished above all in the
army for graces of person and fine qualities, was with him. These
two were friends and brothers in arms. Nisus said to his friend :
" Dost thou perceive what confidence and carelessness the enemy
display ? Their lights are few and dim, and the men seem i
oppressed with wine or sleep. Thou knowest how anxiously our
chiefs wish to send to ^neas and to get intelligence from him.
Now I am strongly moved to make my way through the enemy's
camp and to go in search of our chief. If I succeed, the glory
of the deed will be reward enough for me, and if they judge the
service deserves anything more, let them pay it thee."
Euryalus, all on fire with the love of adventure, replied: "Wouldst
thou then, Nisus, refuse to share thy enterprise with me ? And
shall I let thee go into such danger alone .' Not so my brave father
brought me up, nor so have I planned for myself when I joined
the standard of (tneas and resolved to hold my life cheap in com-
parison with honor," Nisus replied: " I doubt it not, my friend;
but thou knowest the uncertain event of such an undertaking, and
whatever may happen to me, I wish thee to be safe. Thou art
younger than I and hast more of life in prospect. Nor can I be
the cause of such grief to thy mother, who has chosen to be here
in the camp with thee rather than stay and live in peace with the
other matrons in Acestcs' city." Euryalus replied, " Say no more.
In vain dost thou seek arguments to dissuade me. I am fixed in
the resolution to go with thee. Let us lose no time." They called
the guard and, committing the watch to them, sought the general's.
tent. They found the chief officers in consultation, deliberating
how they should send notice to .^neas of their situation. The,
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 369
offer of the two friends was gladly accepted, themselves loaded
with praises and promised the most liberal rewards in case of
success. lulus especially addressed Euryalus, assuring him of his
lasting friendship. Euryalus replied : '' I have but one boon to ask.
My aged mother is with me in the camp. For me she left the
Trojan soil and would not stay behind with the other matrons at
the city of Acestes. I go now without taking leave of her. I could
not bear her tears nor set at naught her entreaties. But do thou, I
beseech thee, comfort her in her distress. Promise me that and
I shall go more boldly into whatever dangers may present them-
selves." lulus and the other chiefs were moved to tears and prom-
ised to do all his request. " Thy mother shall be mine," said lulus,
''and all that I have promised thee shall be made good to her, if
thou dost not return to receive it."
The two friends left the camp and plunged at once into the
midst of the enemy. They found no watch, no sentinels posted,
but, all about, the sleeping soldiers strewn on the grass and among
the wagons. The laws of war at that early day did not forbid a
brave man to slay a sleeping foe, and the two Trojans slew, as they
passed, such of the enemy as they could without exciting alarm.
In one tent Euryalus made prize of a helmet brilliant with gold
and plumes. They had passed through the enemy's ranks without
being discovered, but now suddenly appeared a troop directly in
front of them, which, under Volscens, their leader, were approach-
ing the camp. The glittering helmet of Euryalus caught their
attention, and Volscens hailed the two and demanded who and
whence they were. They made no answer, but plunged into the
wood. The horsemen scattered in all directions to intercept their
flight. Nisus had eluded pursuit and was out of danger, but, since
Euryalus was missing, he turned back to seek him. He again en-
tered the wood and soon came within sound of voices. Looking
through the thicket he saw the whole band surrounding Euryalus
with noisy questions. What should he do ; how extricate the youth ;
or would it be better to die with him ?
Raising his eyes to the moon which now shone clear, he said,
'' Goddess, favor my effort 1 " and, aiming his javelin at one of the
leaders of the troop, struck him in the back and stretched him
370 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
on the plain with a deathblow. In the midst of their amazement
another weapon flew, and another of the party fell dead. Volscens,
the leader, ignorant whence the darts came, rushed sword in hand
upon Euryalus. "Thou shalt pay the penalty of both," he said,
and would have plunged the sword into his bosom, when Nisus,
who from his concealment saw the peril of his friend, rushed for-
ward exclaiming, "Twas I ! 'twas 1 1 Turn your swords against
me, Rutulians, I did it ; he only followed me as a friend." While
he spoke the sword fell and pierced the comely bosom of Euryalus.
His head fell over on his shoulder, like a flower cut down by the
plow. Nisus rushed upon Volscens and plunged his sword into
his body, and was himself slain on the instant by numberless blows.
265. The Death at Mezentius. j^neas, with his Etrurian allies,
arrived on the scene of action in time to rescue his beleaguered
camp ; and now the two armies being nearly equal in strength,
the war began in good earnest. We cannot find space for all the
details, but must simply record the fate of the principal charactere.
The tyrant Mezentius, finding himself engaged against his revolted
subjects, raged like a wild beast. He slew all who dared withstand
him, and put the multitude to flight wherever he appeared. At
last he encountered .^neas, and the armies stood still to see the
issue. Mezentius threw his spear, which, striking ^Eneas' shield,
glanced off and hit Antores, — a Grecian by birth who had left
Argos, his native city, and followed Evander into Italy. The poet
says of him, with simple pathos which has made the words pro-
verbial, " He fell, unhappy, by a wound intended for another,
looked up to the skies, and, dying, remembered sweet Argos." *
/Eneas now in turn hurled his lance. It pierced the shield of
Mezentius and wounded him in the thigh, Lausus, his son, could
not bear the sight, but rushed forward and interposed himself,
while the followers pressed round Mezentius and bore him away,
itneas held his sword suspended over Lausus and delayed to
strike, but the furious youth pressed on, and he was compelled to
deal the fatal blow. Lausus fell, and j^neas bent over him in pity.
" Hapless youth," he said, " what can I do for thee worthy of thy
- ^neid id, 781.
THE WAR BETWEEN TROJANS AND LATINS 371
praise ? Keep those arms in which thou gloriest, and fear not but
that thy body shall be restored to thy friends and have due funeral
honors." So saying, he called the timid followers and delivered
the body into their hands.
Mezentius meanwhile had been borne to the riverside, and had
washed his wound. Soon the news reached him of Lausus* death,
and rage and despair supplied the place of strength. He mounted
his horse and dashed into the thickest of the fight, seeking ^neas.
Having found him, he rode round him in a circle, throwing one
javelin after another, while -^neas stood fenced with his shield,
turning every way to meet them. At last after Mezentius had
three times made the circuit, ^neas threw his lance directly at
the horse's head. The animal fell with pierced temples, while a
shout from both armies rent the skies. Mezentius asked no mercy,
but only that his body might be spared the insults of his revolted
subjects and be buried in the same grave with his son. He re-
ceived the fatal stroke not unprepared, and poured out his life and
his blood together.
266. The Deaths of Pallas and Camilla. While these things
were doing in one part of the field, in another Tumus encountered
the youthful Pallas. The contest between champions so unequally
matched could not be doubtful. Pallas bore himself bravely, but
fell by the lance of Tumus. The victor almost relented when he saw
the brave youth lying dead at his feet, and spared to use the privi-
lege of a conqueror in despoiling him of his arms. The belt only,
adorned with studs and carvings of gold, he took and clasped round
his own body. The rest he remitted to the friends of the slain.
After the battle there was a cessation of arms for some days to
allow both armies to bury their dead. In this interval ^Eneas chal-
lenged Tumus to detide the contest by single combat, but Tumus
evaded the challenge. Another battle ensued, in which Camilla,
the vu-gin warrior, was chiefly conspicuous. Her deeds of valor
surpassed those of the bravest warriors, and many Trojans and
Etmscans fell pierced with her darts or stmck down by her battle-
ax. At last an Etmscan named Amns, who had watched her
long, seeking for some advantage, observed her pursuing an enemy
whose splendid armor offered a tempting prize. Intent on the
CHAPTER XXVII
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS^
268. The Creation. According to the Eddas there was once no
heaven above nor earth beneath, but only a bottomless deep, Gin-
ungagap, and a world of mist, Niflheim, in which sprang a foun-
tain. Twelve rivers issued from this fountain, Vergelmir, and
when they had flowed far from their source, they froze into ice, and
one layer accumulating over another, the great deep was filled up.
Southward from the world of mist was the world of light, Mus-
pelheim. From this proceeded a warm wind upon the ice and
melted it. The vapors rose in the air and formed clouds, from
which sprang Ymir, the rime-cold giant and his progeny, and the
cow Audhumbla, whose milk afforded nourishment and food to
the giant. The cow got nourishment by licking the hoar frost and
salt from the ice. While she was one day licking the salt stones
there appeared at first the hair of some being, on the second day
his whole head, and on the third the entire form endowed with
beauty, agility, and power. This new being was a god, Bori, from
whom and his wife, a daughter of the giant race, sprang Bor, the
father of Odin, Vili, and Ve. These three slew the giant Ymir,
and out of his body formed the earth, of his blood the seas, of his
bones the mountains, of his hair the trees, of his skull the heavens,
and of his brain clouds, charged with hail and snow. Of Ymir's
eyebrows the gods built a fence around the Midgard or mid-earth
between Niflheim and Muspelheim, destined to become the abode
of man.
Odin then regulated the periods of day and night and the
seasons by placing in the heavens the sun and moon, and appoint-
ing to them their respective courses. As soon as the sun began
to shed its rays upon the earth, it caused the vegetable world to
^ For Records of Norse Mythology, see § 300, and Commentary, §§ 268, 282^ and -^<m.
373
p
I
374 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
bud and sprout. Shortly after the gods {the Anse-race, Arises,
jEsir, or Asa-folk) had created the world, they walked by the side
of the sea, pleased with their new work, but found that it was still
incomplete, for it was without human beings. They therefore took
an ashen spar and made a man out of it ; woman they made out
of a piece of elm ; and they called the man Ask and the woman
Embla, ■ Odin then gave them life and soul, Vili reason and motion,
and Ve bestowed upon them the senses, expressive features, and
speech, Midgard was given them as their residence, and, they
became the progenitors of the human race.
269. Yggdrasil. The mighty ash tree, Yggdrasil, was supposed
to support the whole universe. It sprang from the body of Ymir,
and had three immense roots, extending one into Midgard (the
dwelling of mortals), another into Jotunheim (the abode of the
giants), and the third below Nifiheim, into the region of Death.
By the side of each of these roots is a spring, from which it is
watered. The root that extends into Midgard is carefully tended
by the three Norns, — goddesses who are regarded as the dis-
pensers of fate. They are Urd (the past), Verdandi (the present),
Skuld (the future). The spring at the Jotunheim side is Mimir's
well, in which wisdom and wit lie hidden, but that below Niflheim
refreshes also the dark dragon of despair, Nidhogg (the back-biter),
which perpetually gnaws at the root. Four harts run across the
branches of the tree and nip the buds ; they represent the four
winds. Under the tree lies Ymir, and when he tries to shake off its
weight the earth quakes. The boughs overshadow the earth, and
the top rises into Asgard in the zenith,
270. Odin and his Valhalla. To Asgard, the abode of the gods,
access is gained only by crossing the bridge, Bifrost (the rainbow),
Asgard— Gladsheim for the gods, Vingolf for the goddesses — con-
sists of golden and silver palaces ; but the most beautiful of these
is Valhalla, the great hall of Odin, When seated on his throne he
overlooks heaven and earth. Beside him sits Frigga (or Fricka),
his wife, who knows all things. Upon his shoulders are the ravens,
Hugin and Munin, — ^Thought and Memory, — who fly every day
the whole world, and on their return report to him what thqr
seen and heard. At bis feet lie his two wolves, Geri and
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 375
Freki, to whom Odin gives the meat that is set before him, for he
himself stands in no need of food. Mead is for him both food and
drink. He invented the Runic characters ; the decrees of fate, in-
scribed therein, it is the business of the Noms to engrave upon a
Fig. 186. Valkyrie bkaring a Hero to Valhalla
From the painting by Dielilz
metal shield. From Odin's name, spelt Woden, as it sometimes
is, comes our English word, Wednesday.
Odin is frequently called Alfadur (All-father), but this name is
sometimes used in a way that shows that the Scandinavians had an
idea of a deity superior to Odin, uncreated and eternal. In Valhalla
Odin feasts with his chosen heroes, all those who have fallen bravely,
in battle, for all who die a peaceful death are excluded. The flesb.
376 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of the boar Serimnir is served up to them and is abundant for all.
For although this boar is cooked every morning, he becomes whole
again every night. For drink the heroes are supplied abundantly
with mead from the she-goat Heidrun. When the heroes are not
feasting, they amuse themselves with fighting. Every day they ride
out into the court or field and fight until they cut each other in
pieces. This is their pastime ; but when mealtime comes, they
recover from their wounds and return to feast in Valhalla.
271. The Valkyries. The Valkyries are warlike virgins, mounted
upon horses and armed with helmets, shields, and spears. Odin is
desirous of gathering many heroes in Valhalla that he may glori-
ously meet the giants in the day of the final contest ; he therefore
sends to every battle field for the bravest of those who shall be
slain. The Valkyries, Choosers of the Slain, are his messengers.
Later they are called his daughters. When they ride forth on
their errand, their armor sheds a weird flickering light over the
northern skies, making what men call the Aurora Borealis.^
272. Thor and the Other Gods. Of the following, Thor, Vidar,
Bragiy Balder^ and Hoder are sons of Odin. Thor, the thunderer,
Odin's eldest son, is the strongest of gods and men, and possesses
three precious things. The first is a hammer, which both the Frost
and the Mountain giants (Hrim-thursar and Berg-risar) know to
their cost, when they see it hurled against them in the air, for it
has split many a skull of their fathers and kindred. When thrown,
it returns to his hand of its own accord. The second rare thing
he possesses is the belt of strength. When he girds it about him
his divine might is doubled. The third is his iron gloves, which
he puts on whenever he would use his mallet efficiently. From
Thor's name is derived our word Thursday.
Vidar comes next in strength to Thor.
Bragi is the god of poetry, and his song records the deeds of
warriors. His wife, Iduna^ keeps in a box the apples which the
gods, when they feel old age approaching, have only to taste of
to become young again.
Balder^ dearest of the Anses, is the god of sunlight, spring, and
gladness. Hoder, his opposite, is the blind god of winter.
^ Gray's ode, The Fatal Sisters, is founded on this superstition.
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 377
Of other gods, Freyr presides over rain and sunshine and all the
fruits of the earth. His sister Freya (Freia) is the most propitious of
the goddesses. She loves music, spring, and flowers, and the fairies
of Elfheim. She is the goddess of love. Her day is Friday.
Tyr {Ziu or Tiw), from whose name is derived our Tuesday,
is the wrestler among the gods ; and preeminently the '' god of
battles."
Heimdall is the watchman of the gods, and is therefore placed
on the borders of heaven to prevent the giants from forcing their
way over the bridge Bifrost. He requires less sleep than a bird,
and sees by night as well as by day a hundred miles around him.
So acute is his ear that no sound escapes him, for he can even
hear the grass grow, — and the wool on a sheep's back.
273. Loki and his Progeny. Loki (or Loge) is described as the
calumniator of the gods and the contriver of all fraud and mischief.
He is the son of Farbauti, the Charon of Norse mythology. He is
handsome and well made, but of fickle mood and evil disposition.
Although of the demon race, he forced himself into the company
of the gods, and seemed to take pleasure in bringing them into
difficulties, and in extricating them out of the danger by his
cunning, wit, and skill. Loki has three children. The first is the
wolf FenriSy the second the Midgard Serpent^ the third Hela
(Death). The gods were not ignorant that these monsters were
maturing and that they would one day bring much evil upon gods
and men. So Odin deemed it advisable to send one to bring them
to him. When they came he threw the serpent in that deep ocean
by which the earth is surrounded. But the monster has grown to
such an enormous size that, holding his tail in his mouth, he encir-
cles the whole earth. Hela he hurled below Niflheim and gave
her power over nine worlds or regions, in which she distributes
those who are sent to her, — that is, all who die of sickness or old
age. Her hall is called Eliudnir, or Sleet-den. Hunger is her table.
Starvation her knife. Delay her man, Slowness her maid, Pale Woe
her door. Stumbling-stone her threshold. Care her bed ; and Fall-
ing-peril forms the hangings of her apartments. She may easily
be recognized, for her body is half flesh color and half blue, and
she presents a stem and forbidding countenance.
r378 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The wolf Fenris gave the gods a great deal of trouble before
they succeeded in chaining him. He brolvc the strongest fetters
as if they were made of cobwebs. Finally the gods sent a mes-
senger to the mountain spirits, who made for them the chain
called Gleipnir. It is fashioned of six things, — the noise made
by the footfall of a cat, the beards of women, the roots of stones,
the breath of fishes, the nerves (sensibilities) of bears, and the
spittle of birds. When finished it was as smooth and soft as a
silken string. But when the gods asked the wolf to suffer himself
to be bound with this apparently slight ribbon, he suspected their
design, fearing that it was made by enchantment. He therefore
■ consented to he bound with it only upon condition that one of the
gods put his hand in his (Fenris') mouth as a pledge that the band
was to be removed again. Tyr alone had courage enough to do
this. But when the woif found that he could not break his fetters
and that the gods would not release him, he bit off Tyr's hand.
Tyr, consequently, has ever since remained one-handed.
■ 274. The Confiict with the Mountain Giants. When the gods
were constructing their abodes and had already finished Midgard
and Valhalla, a certain artificer came and offered to build them a
residence so well fortified that they should be perfectly safe from
the incursions of the Frost giants and the giants of the mountains.
But he demanded for his reward the goddess Freya, together with
the sun and moon. The gods yielded to the terms, provided that
the artificer would finish the whole work without any one's assist-
ance, and all within the space of one winter. But if anything
» remained unfinished on the first day of summer, he should forfeit
the recompense agreed on. On being told these terms, the artificer
stipulated that he be allowed the use of his horse Svadilfari, and
this request, by the advice of Loki, was conceded. He accordingly
set to work on the first day of winter, and during the night let his
horse draw stone for the building. The enormous size of the stones
struck the gods with astonishment, and they saw clearly that the
horse did one half more of the toilsome work than his master.
Their bargain, however, had been concluded and confirmed by
solemn oaths, for without these precautions a giant would not have
lought himself safe among the gods, — still less, indeed, if Thor
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 379
should return from the expedition he had then undertaken against
the evil demons.
As the winter drew to a close the building was far advanced,
and the bulwarks were sufficiently high and massive to render the
place impregnable. In short, when it wanted but three days to
summer, the only part that remained to be finished was the gate-
way. Then sat the gods on their seats of justice and entered into
consultation, inquiring of one another who among them could have
advised the rest to surrender Freya, or to plunge the heavens in
darkness by permitting the giant to cany away the sun and the
moon.
They all agreed that no one but Loki, the author of so many
evil deeds, could have given such counsel, and that he should
be put to a cruel death unless he contrived some way to prevent
the artificer from completing his task and obtaining the stipulated
recompense. They proceeded to lay hands on Loki, who in his
fright promised upon oath that, let it cost him what it might, he
would so manage matters that the man should lose his reward.
That night when the man went with Svadilfari for building-stone,
a mare suddenly ran out of a forest and began to neigh. The
horse thereat broke loose and ran after the mare into the forest,
obliging the man also to run after his horse ; thus, therefore, be-
tween one and another the whole night was lost, so that at dawn
the work had not made the usual progress. The man, seeing that
he must fail of completing his task, resumed his own gigantic
stature, and the gods now clearly perceived that it was in reality
a mountain giant who had come amongst them. Feeling no longer
bound by their oaths, they called on Thor, who immediately ran to
their assistance and, lifting up his mallet, paid the workman his
wages, not with the sun and moon, and not even by sending him
back to Jotunheim, for with the first blow he shattered the giant's
skull to pieces and hurled him headlong into Niflheim.
275. The Recovery of Thor's Hammer. Soon afterward it hap-
pened that Thor's hammer fell into the possession of the giant
Thrym, who buried it eight fathoms deep under the rocks of
Jotunheim. Thor sent Loki to negotiate with Thrym, but he
could only prevail so far as to get the giant's promise to restore
,380 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
the weapon if Freya would consent to be his bride, Loki returned
and reported the result of his mission, but the goddess of love was
horrified at the idea of bestowing her charms on the liing of the
Frost giants. In this emergency Lolvi persuaded Thor to dress
himself in Freya's clothes and accompany him to Jotunheim.
Thrym received his veiled bride with due courtesy, but was greatly
surprised it seeing her eat for her supper eight salmon and a
full-grown ox besides other delicacies, washing the whole down with
three titns of mead. Loki, however, assured him that she had not
tasted anything for eight long nights, so great was her desire to
see her lover, the renowned ruler of Jotunheim. Thrym had at
last the curiosity to peep under his bride's veil, but started back in
affright, and demanded why Freya's eyeballs glistened with fire,
Loki repeated the same excuse, and the giant was satisfied. He
ordered the hammer to be brought in and laid on the maiden's lap.
Thereupon Thor threw off his disguise, grasped his redoubted
weapon, and slaughtered Thrj-m and all his followers.
276. Thor's Visit to Jotunheim. One day Thor, with his serv-
ant Thialfi and accompanied by Loki, set out for the giants'
country. Thialfi was of all men the swiftest of foot. He bore
Thor's wallet containing their provisions. When night came on
they found themselves in an immense forest, and searched on all
sides for a place where they might pass the night. At last they
came to a large hall, with an entrance that took the whole breadth
of one end of the building. Here they lay down to sleep, but
towards midnight were alarmed by an earthquake which shook the
whole edifice. Thor, rising up, called on his companions to seek
with him a place of safety. On the right they found an adjoining
chamber into which the others entered, but Thor remained at the
doorway with his mallet in his hand, prepared to defend himself
whatever might happen. A terrible groaning \vas heard during the
night, and at dawn of day Thor went out and found lying near
him a huge giant, still snoring in the way that had alarmed them.
For once Thor was afraid to use his mallet, and as the giant soon
waked up, Thor contented himself with simply asking his name.
"My name is Skrymir," said the giant, "but 1 need not ask
r name, for I know that thou art the god Thor. But what has
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 38 1
become of my glove ? " Thor then perceived that what they had
taken overnight for a hall was the giant's glove, and the cham-
ber where his two companions had sought refuge was the thumb.
Skrymir then proposed that they should travel in company, and
Thor consenting, they sat down to eat their breakfast. When
they had done, Skrymir packed all the provisions into one wallet,
threw it over his shoulder, and strode on before them, taking such
tremendous strides that they were hard put to it to keep up with
him. So they traveled the whole day, and at dusk Skrymir chose a
place for them to pass the night in under a large oak tree. Skrymir
then told them he would lie down to sleep. '' But take ye the
wallet," he added, " and prepare your supper."
Skrymir soon fell asleep and began to snore strongly, but when
Thor tried to open the wallet, he found the giant had tied it up so
tight he could not untie a single knot. At last Thor became wroth,
and grasping his mallet with both hands, he struck a furious blow
on the giant's head. Skrymir, awakening, merely asked whether a
leaf had not fallen on his head, and whether they had supped and
were ready to go to sleep. Thor answered that they wer6 just going
to sleep, and so saying went and laid himself down under another
tree. But sleep came not that night to Thor, and when Skrymir
snored again so loud that the forest reechoed with the noise, he
arose, and, grasping his mallet, launched it with such force at the
giant's skull that it made a deep dint in it. Skrymir, awakening,
cried out : '* What 's the matter ? Are there any birds perched on
this tree } I felt some moss from the branches fall on my head.
How fares it with thee, Thor ? " But Thor went away hastily, say-
ing that he had just then awoke, and that as it was only midnight,
there was still time for sleep. He, however, resolved that if he
had an opportunity of striking a third blow, it should settle all
matters between them. A little before daybreak he perceived that
Skrymir was again fast asleep, and again grasping his mallet, he
dashed it with such violence that it forced its way into the giant's
skull up to the handle. But Skrymir sat up, and, stroking his
cheek, said : "An acorn fell on my head. What 1 Art thou awake,
Thor ? Methinks it is time for us to get up and dress ourselves ;
but you have not now a long way before you to the city called
382 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Utgard. I have heard you whispering to one another that I am
. a man of small dimensions, but if you come to Utgard, you
will see there many men much taller than I. Wherefore I advise
you, when you confe there, not to make too much of yourselves ;
for the followers of Utgard-Loki will not brook the boasting of
such little fellows as you are. You must take the road that 1
eastward ; mine lies northward, so we must part here."
Hereupon he threw his wallet over his shoulders and turned
away from them into the forest, and Thor had no wish to s
him or to ask for any more of his company.
Thor and his companions proceeded on their way, and toward]
noon descried a city standing in the middle of a plain. It was 5
lofty that they were obliged to bend their necks quite back on
their shoulders in order to see to the top of it. On arriving th^
entered the city, and seeing a large palace before them with the
door wide open, they went in and found a number of men cd
prodigious stature, sitting on benches in the hall. Going further,
they came before the king Utgard-Loki, whom they saluted with,
great respect. The king, regarding them with a scornful smite,
said, " If I do not mistake me, that stripling yonder must be th©
god Thor," Then addressing himself to Thor, he said ; "PerhapjJ
thou mayst be more than thou appearest to be. What are the feats
that thou and thy fellows deem yourselves skilled in ? — for no one
is permitted to remain here who does not, in some feat or other^
excel all other men."
" The feat that I know," said Loki, " is to eat quicker than anj
one else, and in this I am ready to give a proof against any one
here who may choose to compete with me."
"That will indeed be a feat, if thou perfonnest what thou proro-
isest," said Utgard-Loki, "and it shall be tried forthwith,"
He then ordered one of his men, who was sitting at the farthet
end of the bench and whose name was Logi, to come forward and
try his skill with Loki. A trough filled with meat having been s
on the hall floor, I^ki placed himself at one end and Logi at the
other, and each of them began to eat as fast as he could, until they
met in the middle of the trough. But it was found that Loki had
on}y eaten the flesh, while his adversary had devoured both flesh and
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 383
bone, and the trough to boot. All the company therefore adjudged
that Loki was vanquished.
Utgard-Loki then asked what feat the young man who accom-
panied Thor could perform. Thialfi answered that he would run a
race with any one who might be matched against him. The king
observed that skill in running was something to boast of, but if the
youth would win the match, he must display great agility. He then
arose and went, with all who were present, to a plain where there
was good ground for running on, and calling a young man named
Hugi, bade him run a match with Thialfi. In the first course Hugi
so much outstripped his competitor that he turned back and met
him not far from the starting-place. Then they ran a second and
a third time, but Thialfi met with no better success.
Utgard-Loki then asked Thor in what feats he would choose
to give proofs of that prowess for which he was so famous. Thor
answered that he would try a drinking-match with any one. Utgard-
Loki bade his cupbearer bring the large horn which his followers
were obliged to empty when they had trespassed in any way against
the law of the feast. The cupbearer having presented it to Thor,
Utgard-Loki said, '' Whoever is a good drinker will empty that
horn at a single draft, though most men make two of it ; but the
most puny drinker can do it in three."
Thor looked at the horn, which seemed of no extraordinary size,
though somewhat long; however, as he was very thirsty, he set
it to his lips and, without drawing breath, pulled as long and as
deeply as he could, that he might not be obliged to make a second
draft of it ; but when he set the horn down and looked in, he could
scarcely perceive that the liquor was diminished.
After taking breath, Thor went to it again with all his might,
but when he took the horn from his mouth, it seemed to him that
he had drank rather less than before, although the horn could now
be carried without spilling.
"How now, Thor," said Utgard-Loki, "thou must not spare thy-
self; if thou meanest to drain the horn at the third draft, thou
must pull deeply; and I must needs say that thou wilt not be
called so mighty a man here as thou art at home if thou showest no
greater prowess in other feats than methinks will be shown in this,"
384 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Thor, full of wrath, again set the horn to his hps and did his
best to empty it ; but on looldng in found the liquor was only a
little lower, so he resolved to make no further attempt, but gave
back the horn to the cupbearer.
"I now see plainly," said Utgard-Loki, "that thou art not quite
so stout as we thought tliee ; but wilt thou try any other feat ?
though methinks thou art not likely to bear any prize away wdth
thee hence."
" What new trial hast thou to propose ? " said Thor.
"We have a very trifling game here," answered Utgard-Loki,
"in which we exercise none but children. It consists in merely
lifting my cat from the ground ; nor should I have dared to r
tion such a feat to the great Thor if I had not already observed
that thou art by no means what we took thee for,"
As he finished speaking a large gray cat sprang on the hall floor.
Thor put his hand under the cat's belly and did his ubnost to raise
him from the floor, but the cat, bending his back, had, notwith-
standing all Thor's efforts, only one of his feet lifted up, seeing
which Thor made no further attempt.
"This trial has turned out," said Utgard-Loki, "just as I inag-
ined it would. The cat is large, but Thor is little in comparison to
our men,"
" Little as ye call me," answered Thor, "let me see who among
you will come hither now that I am in wrath and wresde with me."
"I see no one here," said Utgard-Loki, looking at the men
sitting on the benches, "who would not think it beneath him to
wrestle with thee ; let somebody, however, call hither that old
crone, my nurse Elli, and let Thor wrestle with her if he will.
She has thrown to the ground many a man not less strong than
this Thor is,"
A toothless old woman then entered the hall, and was told 1^
Utgard-Loki to take hold of Thor. The tale is shortly told. The
more Thor tightened his hold on the crone the firmer she stood.
At length, after a very violent struggle, Thor began to lose his
footing, and was finally brought down upon one knee. Utgard^
Loki then told them to desist, adding that Thor had nov» nQ
i occasion to ask any one else in the hall to wrestle with him, and
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 385
it was also getting late ; so he showed Thor and his companions
to their seats, and they passed the night there in good cheer.
The next morning, at break of day, Thor and his companions
dressed themselves and prepared for their departure. Utgard-Loki
ordered a table to be set for them, on which there was no lack of
victuals or drink. After the repast Utgard-Loki led them to the
gate of the city, and on parting asked Thor how he thought his
journey had turned out and whether he had met with any men
stronger than himself. Thor told him that he could not deny but that
he had brought great shame on himself. **And what grieves me
most," he added, **is that ye will call me a person of little worth."
**Nay," said Utgard-Loki, **it behooves me to tell thee the
truth, now thou art out of the city, which so long as I live and
have my way thou shalt never enter again. And, by my troth, had
I known beforehand that thou hadst so much strength in thee, and
wouldst have brought me so near to a great mishap I would not
have suffered thee to enter this time. Know then that I have all
along deceived thee by my illusions; first in the forest, where I
tied up the wallet with iron wire so that thou couldst not untie it.
After this thou gavest me three blows with thy mallet ; the first,
though the least, would have ended my days had it fallen on me,
but I slipped aside and thy blows fell on the mountain, where thou
wilt find three glens, one of them remarkably deep. These are the
dints made by thy mallet. I have made use of similar illusions in
the contests ye have had with my followers. In the first, Loki, like
hunger itself, devoured all that was set before him, but Logi was
in reality nothing else than Fire, and therefore consumed not only
the meat but the trough which held it. Hugi, with whom Thialfi
contended in running, was Thought, and it was impossible for
Thialfi to keep pace with that. When thou, in thy turn, didst at-
tempt to empty the horn, thou didst perform, by my troth, a deed
so marvelous that had I not seen it myself I should never have
believed it. For one end of that horn reached the sea, which thou
wast not aware of, but when thou comest to the shore thou wilt
perceive how much the sea has sunk by thy drafts. Thou didst
perform a feat no less wonderful by lifting up the cat, and to tell
thee the truth, when we saw that one of his paws was off the ftoot^
»^86 THE CLASSIC MYTHS H^^H
we were all of us terror-stricken, for what thou tookest for a cat H
was in reality the Midgard serpent that encompasseth the earth, S
and he was so stretched by thee that he was barely long enough to ~
inclose it between his head and tail. Thy wrestling with Elli was l
also a most astonishing feat, for there was never yet a man, nOT;^g*j
ever will be, whom Old Age, for such in fact was Elli, will not
sooner or later lay low. But now, as we are going to part, let me
tell thee that it will be better for both of us if thou never come
near me again, for shouldst thou do so, I shall again defend myself
by other illusions, so that thou wilt only lose thy labor and get no
fame from the contest with me."
On hearing these words Thor, in a rage, laid hold of his malk-t
and would have launched it at him, but Utgard-Loki had di?:ip
peared, and when Thor would have returned to the city to deytmi
■ h, he found nothing around him but a verdant plain.
277. The Sword of Freyr. Freyr also possessed a wonderlnl
weapon, a sword which would of itself spread a field with cam;ii;i.'
whenever the owner desired it. Freyr parted with this sword, inu
was less fortunate than Thor and never recovered it. It happened
in this way : Freyr once mounted Odin's throne, from whence um.'
can see over the whole universe, and looking round, saw far off in
the giant's kingdom a beautiful maid, at the sight of whom he was
struck with sudden sadness, insomuch that from that moment he
■ could neither sleep nor drink nor speak. At last Skimir, his
messenger, drew his secret from him, and undertook to get him
the maiden for his bride, if he would give him his sword as a
reward. Freyr consented and gave him the sword, and Skimir
set off on his journey and obtained the maiden's promise that
within nine nights she would come to a certain place and there
wed Freyr. Skimir having reported the success of his errand,
Freyr exclaimed ;
L
" Long is one night,
Long arc two nights,
But how shall I hold out three?
Shorter hath seemed
A month to me oft
Than of this longing time the half."
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 387
So Freyr obtained Gerda, the most beautiful of all women, for
his wife, but he lost his sword.
278. The Death of Balder. Balder the Good, having been tor-
mented with terrible dreams indicating that his life was in peril,
told them to the assembled gods, who resolved to conjure all things
to avert from him the threatened danger. Then Frigga, the wife
of Odin, exacted an oath from fire and water, from iron and all
other metals, from stones, trees, diseases, beasts, birds, poisons,
and creeping things, that none of them would do any harm to
Balder, Odin, not satisfied with all this, and feeling alarmed for the
fate of his son, determined to consult the prophetess Angerbode, a
giantess, mother of Fenris, Hela, and the Midgard serpent. She
was dead, and Odin was forced to seek her in Hela's dominions.
But the other gods, feeling that what Frigga had done was quite
sufficient, amused themselves with using Balder as a mark, some
hurling darts at him, some stones, while others hewed at him with
their swords and battle-axes, for do what they would, none of them
could harm him. And this became a favorite pastime with them,
and was regarded as an honor shown to Balder. But when Loki
beheld the scene, he was sorely vexed that Balder was not hurt.
Assuming, therefore, the shape of a woman, he went to Fensalir,
the mansion of Frigga. That goddess, when she saw the pretended
woman, inquired of her if she knew what the gods were doing at
their meetings. She replied that they were throwing darts and
stones at Balder, without being able to hurt him. "Ay," said Frigga,
" neither stones, nor sticks, nor anything else can hurt Balder, for
I have exacted an oath from all of them." "What," exclaimed the
woman, " have all things sworn to spare Balder.'" "All things,"
replied Frigga, "except one little shrub that grows on the eastern
side of Valiialla and is called Mistletoe, which I thought too young
and feeble to crave an oath from."
As soon as Loki heard this he went away and, resuming his
natural shape, cut off the mistletoe and repaired to the place where
the gods were assembled. There he found Hoder standing apart,
without partaking of the sports on account of his blindness, and
going up to him said, "Why dost thou not also throw something
at Balder f "
388 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
** Because I am blind," answered Hoder, **and see not where
Balder is, and have, moreover, nothing to throw."
**Come, then," said Loki, "do like the rest and show honor to
Balder by throwing this twig at him, and I will direct thy arm
toward the place where he stands."
Hoder then took the mistletoe and, under the guidance of Loki,
darted it at Balder, who, pierced through and through, fell down
lifeless. Never was there witnessed, either among gods or men,
a more atrocious deed.
So on the floor lay Balder dead ; and round ^
Lay thickly strewn swords, axes, darts, and spears,
Which all the gods in sport had idly thrown
At Balder, whom no weapon pierced or clove ;
But in his breast stood flxt the fatal bough
Of mistletoe, which Lok the accuser gave
To Hoder, and unwitting Hoder threw —
'Gainst that alone had Balder's life no charm.
And all the gods and all the heroes came,
And stood round Balder on the bloody floor.
Weeping and wailing ; and Valhalla rang
Up to its golden roof with sobs and cries ;
And on the tables stood the untasted meats.
And in the horns and gold-rimmed skulls the wine.
And now would night have falPn and found them yet
Wailing ; but otherwise was Odin's will.
He bade them not to spend themselves in unavailing grief, for
Balder, though the brightest god of heaven and best beloved, had
but met the doom ordained at his birth by the Noms. Rather let
the funeral pile be prepared, and let vengeance on Loki be left to
Odin himself. So speaking, Odin mounted his horse Sleipnir and
rode away to Lidskialf, and the gods in Valhalla returned to the
feast:
And before each the cooks, who served them, placed
New messes of the boar Serimnir's flesh,
And the Valkyries crowned their horns with mead.
So they, with pent-up hearts and tearless eyes,
Wailing no more, in silence ate and drank,
While twilight fell, and sacred night came on.
1 Fh>ni Matthew Arnold's Balder Dead.
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 389
But the blind Hoder, leaving the gods, went by the sea to Fen-
salir, the house of Frigga, mother of the gods, to ask her what way
there might be of restoring Balder to life and heaven. Might Hela
perchance surrender Balder if Hoder himself should take his place
among the shades ? ** Nay," replied Frigga, ** no way is there but
one, that the first god thou meetest on the return to Asgard take
Sleipnir, Odin's horse, and ride o'er the bridge Bifrost where is
Heimdairs watch, past Midgard fortress, down the dark, unknown
road to Hel, and there entreat the goddess Hela that she yield
Balder back to heaven." Hoder, returning cityward, met Hermod,
swiftest of the gods, —
Nor yet could Hermod see his brother's face,
For it grew dark ; but Hoder touched his arm.
And as a spray of honeysuckle flowers
Brushes across a tired traveler's face
Who shuffles through the deep dew-moisten'd dust
On a May evening, in the darkened lanes.
And starts him, that he thinks a ghost went by,
So Hoder brush 'd by Hermod's side, and said :
" Take Sleipnir, Hermod, and set forth with dawn
To Hela's kingdom, to ask Balder back ;
And they shall be thy guides who have the power."
He spake, and brush'd soft by and disappeared.
And Hermod gazed into the night, and said :
" Who is it utters through the dark his best
So quickly, and will wait for no reply ?
The voice was like the imhappy Hoder's voice.
Howbeit I will see, and do his best ;
For there rang note divine in that command."
So speaking, the fleet-footed Hermod came
Home, and lay down to sleep in his own house ;
And all the gods lay down in their own homes.
And Hoder, too, came home distraught with grief.
Loathing to meet, at dawn, the other gods ;
And he went in, and shut the door, and flxt
His sword upright, and fell on it, and died.
But from the hill of Lidskialf Odin rose,
The throne, from which his eye surveys the world ;
And mounted Sleipnir, and in darkness rode
To Asgard. And the stars came out in heaven,
390 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
High over Asgard, to light home the king.
But fiercely Odin gallop'd, moved in heart :
And swift to Asgard, to the gate he came,
And terribly the hoofs of Sleipnir rang
Along the flinty floor of Asgard streets,
And the gods trembled on their golden beds
Hearing the wrathful father coming home —
For dread, for like a whirlwind Odin came.
And to Valhalla's gate he rode, and left
Sleipnir ; and Sleipnir went to his own stall •,
And in Valhalla Odin laid him down.
That night in a vision appeared Balder to Nanna his wife,
comforting her :
" Yes, and I fain would altogether ward
Death from thy head, and with the gods in heaven
Prolong thy life, though not by thee desired —
But right bars this, not only thy desire.
Yet dreary, Nanna, is the life they lead
In that dim world, in Hela's moldering realm ;
And doleful are the ghosts, the troops of dead.
Whom Hela with austere control presides.
For of the race of gods is no one there
Save me alone, and Hela, solemn queen ;
For all the nobler souls of mortal men
On battle field have met their death, and now
Feast in Valhalla, in my father's hall ;
Only the inglorious sort are there below —
The old, the cowards, and the weak are there.
Men spent by sickness, or obscure decay.
But even there, O Nanna, we might find
Some solace in each other's look and speech,
Wandering together through that gloomy world.
And talking of the life we led in heaven.
While we yet lived, among the other gods."
He spake, and straight his lineaments began
To fade ; and Nanna in her sleep stretch'd out
Her arms towards him with a cry, but he
Mournfully shook his head and disappeared.
And as the woodman sees a little smoke
Hang in the air, afield, and disappear,
So Balder faded in the night away.
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 391
And Nanna on her bed sank back ; but then
Frea, the mother of the gods, with stroke
Painless and swift, set free her airy soul.
Which took, on Balder*s track, the way below ;
And instantly the sacred mom appearM.
With the mom Hermod, mounting Sleipnir, set out on his mis-
sion. For the space of nine days and as many nights he rode
through deep glens so dark that he could not discern anything,
until he arrived at the river GyoU, which he passed over on a
bridge covered with glittering gold. The maiden who kept the
bridge asked him his name and lineage, telling him that the day
before five bands of dead persons had ridden over the bridge, and
did not shake it as much as he alone. ** But," she added, '' thou
hast not death's hue on thee ; why then ridest thou here on the
way to Hel i "
'' I ride to Hel,'* answered Hermod, '' to seek Balder. Hast thou
perchance seen him pass this way ? "
She replied, ** Balder hath ridden over GyoU's bridge, and yon-
der lieth the way he took to the abodes of death."
Hermod pursued his journey until he came to the barred gates
of Hel. Here he alighted, girthed his saddle tighter, and remount-
ing clapped both spurs to his horse, which cleared the gate by a
tremendous leap without touching it. Hermod then rode on to the
palace, where he found his brother Balder occupying the most dis-
tinguished seat in the hall, and passed the night in his company.
The next morning he besought Hela to let Balder ride home with
him, assuring her that nothing but lamentations were to be heard
among the gods. Hela answered that it should now be tried whether
Balder was so beloved as he was said to be. '' If, therefore," she
added, **all things in the world, both living and lifeless, weep for
him, then shall he return to life ; but if any one thing speak against
him or refuse to weep, he shall be kept in Hel."
Hermod then rode back to Asgard and gave an account of all
he had heard and witnessed.
The gods upon this dispatched messengers throughout the world
to beg everything to weep in order that Balder might be delivered
from Hel. All things very willingly complied with this request,
392 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
both men and every other living being, as well as earths, and stones,
and trees, and metals, just as we have all seen these things weep
when they are brought from a cold place into a hot one.
Then the messengers returned, —
. . . And they rode home together, through the wood
Of Jarnvid, which to east of Midgard lies
Bordering the giants, where the trees are iron ;
There in the wood before a cave they came,
Where sate in the cave's mouth a skinny hag,
Toothless and old ; she gibes the passers-by.
Thok is she called, but now Lok wore her shape ;
She greeted them the first, and laughed and said :
" Ye gods, good lack, is it so dull in heaven
That ye come pleasuring to Thok's iron wood ?
Lovers of change, ye are, fastidious sprites.
Look, as in some boor's yard, a sweet-breath'd cow.
Whose manger is stuffed full of good fresh hay,
Snuffs at it daintily, and stoops her head
To chew the straw, her litter at her feet —
So ye grow squeamish, gods, and sniff at heaven ! "
She spake, but Hermod answered her and said,
" Thok, not for gibes we come ; we come for tears.
Balder is dead, and Hela holds her prey.
But will restore, if all things give him tears.
Begrudge not thine ! to all was Balder dear."
Then, with a louder laugh, the hag replied :
"Is Balder dead ? and do ye come for tears ?
Thok with dry eyes will weep o'er Balder's pyre.
Weep him all other things, if weep they will —
I weep him not ! let Hela keep her prey."
She spake, and to the cavern's depth she fled,
Mocking ; and Hermod knew their toil was vain.^
So was Balder prevented from returning to Asgard.
279. The Funeral of Balder. The gods took up the dead body
and bore it to the seashore, where stood Balder*s ship Hringham,
which passed for the largest in the world. Balder's dead body was
put on the funeral pile, on board the ship ; and the body of Nanna
was burned on the same pile with her husband's. There was a
1 From Matthew Arnold's Balder Dead.
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS
393
vast concourse of various kinds of people at Balder's obsequies.
First came Odin accompanied by Fngga the Valkyries and his
ravens ; then Freyr in his car drawn by Gulhnbursti the boar ;
Heimdall rode his horee Gulltopp and Freya drove in her chanot
drawn by cats. There were also a great many Frost giants and
giants of the mountain present. Balder s horse was led to the pile
. fully caparisoned, and
was consumed in the
same flames with his
master.
But Loki did not
escape his merited
punishment. When he
saw how wroth the gods
were, he fled to the
mountain and there
built himself a hut with
four doors, so that he
could see every ap-
proaching danger. He
invented a net to catch
the fishes, such as fish-
ermen have used since
his time. But Odin
found out his hiding
place and the gods as-
sembled to take him.
He, seeing this, changed
himself into a salmon
and lay hid among the stones of the brook. But the gods took
his net and dragged the brook, and Loki, finding he must be
caught, tried to leap over the net; but Thor caught him by the
tail, and compressed it so that salmon ever since have had that
part remarkably fine and thin. They bound him with chains and
suspended a serpent over his head, whose venom falls upon his
face drop by drop. His wife, Siguna, sits by his side and catches
the drops as they fall, in a cup ; but when she carries it avw^ ta
Fig. 187. Loki and Siguna
From the painliiig by Gebbanlt
394
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
empty it, the venom falls upon Loki, which makes him howl with
horror and writhe so that the whole earth shakes.
280. The Elves. The Edda mentions another class of beings,
inferior to the gods, but still possessed of great power ; these
were the Elves, The white spirits, or Elves of Light, were exceed-
ingly fair, more brilliant than the sun, and clad in garments of a
delicate and transparent texture. They loved the light, were kindly
disposed to mankind, and generally appeared as fair and lovely
children. Their country was called Elfheim, and was the domain
of Freyr, in whose sunlight they always sported.
The black elves, ugly, long-nosed dwarfs, of a dirty brown color,
appeared only at night. They avoided the sun as their most deadly
enemy, because his beams changed them immediately into stones.
Their larf^iAge was tlie echo of solitudes, and their dwelling places
subterranean caves and clefts. They were supposed to have come
into existence as maggots produced by the decaying flesh of Ymir's
body. They were afterwards endowed by the gods with a human
form and great understanding. They were particularly distinguished
for a knowledge of the mysterious powers of nature, and for the
nines which they carved and explained. They were the most skill-
ful artificers of all created beings, and worked in metals and in
wood. Among their most noted works were Thor's hammer, and
the ship Skidbladnir, which they gave to Freyr. This vessel was so
large that it could contain all the deities with their war and house-
hold implements, but so skillfully was it wrought that when folded
together it could be put into a side pocket,
■ 281. Ragnarok. It was a firm belief of the Northern nations
that a time would come when all the visible creation, the gods of
Valhalla and Niflheim, the inhabitants of Jotunheim, Elfheim, and
Midgard, together with their habitations, would be destroyed. The
fearful day of destruction will not however be without warning.
First will come a triple winter, during which snow will fall from
I the four comers of the heavens, the frost be severe, the wind
piercing, the weather tempesmous, and the sun impart no gladness.
Three such winters will pass without being tempered by a single
summer. Three other like winters will follow, during which war
md discord will spread over the universe. The earth itself will be
I
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 395
afraid and begin to tremble, the sea leave its basin, the heavens
tear asunder ; men will perish in great numbers, and the eagles of
the air feast upon their still quivering bodies. The wolf Fenris will
now break his bands, the Midgard serpent rise out of his bed in
the sea, and Loki, released from his bonds, will join the enemies
of the gods. Amidst the general devastation the sons of Muspel-
heim will rush forth under their leader Surter, before and behind
whom are flames and burning fire. Onward they ride over Bifrost,
the rainbow bridge, which breaks under the horses' hoofs. But
they, disregarding its fall, direct their course to the battle field
called Vigrid. Thither also repair the wolf Fenris, the Midgard
serpent, Loki, with all the followers of Hela, and the Frost giants.
Heimdall now stands up and sounds the Giallar horn Jo assem-
ble the gods and heroes for the contest. The godg^ad^x^je, led on
by Odin, who, engaging the wolf Fenris, falls a victim to the mon-
ster. Fenris is, in turn, slain by Vidar, Odin's son. Thor wins
great renown by killing the Midgard serpent, but, recoiling, falls
dead, suffocated with the venom which the dying monster vomits
over him. Loki and Heimdall meet and fight till they both are
slain. The gods and their enemies having fallen in battle, Surter,
who has killed Freyr, darts fire and flames over the world, and the
universe is consumed. The sun grows dim, the earth sinks into
the ocean, the stars fall from heaven, and time is no more.
After this Alfadur (not Odin but the Almighty) will cause a new
heaven and a new earth to arise out of the sea. The new earth,
filled with abundant supplies, will produce its fruits without labor
or care. Wickedness and misery will no more be known, but the
gods and men will live happily together.
This twilight of the gods is aptly described in a conversation
held between Balder and Hermod, after Hermod has a second
time ridden to Hel :
And the fleet-footed Hermod made reply : ^ —
" Thou hast then all the solace death allows,
Esteem and function ; and so far is well.
Yet here thou liest, Balder, underground,
Rusting for ever ; and the years roll on,
1 From Matthew Arnold's Balder Dead.
396 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The generations pass, the ages grow,
And bring us nearer to the final day
When from the south shall march the fiery band
And cross the bridge of heaven, with Lok for guide,
And Fenris at his heel with broken chain ;
While from the east the giant Rymer steers
His ship, and the great serpent makes to land ;
And all are marshalM in one fiaming square
Against the gods, upon the plains of heaven.
I mourn thee, that thou canst not help us then."
He spake ; but Balder answered him, and said : —
" Mourn not for me ! Mourn, Hermod, for the gods ;
Mourn for the men on earth, the gods in heaven,
Who live, and with their eyes shall see that day !
The day will come, when fall shall Asgard's towers,
And Odin, and his sons, the seed of Heaven ;
But what were I, to save them in that hour.f*
If strength might save them, could not Odin save,
My father, and his pride, the warrior Thor,
Vidar the silent, the impetuous Tyr ?
I, what were I, when these can nought avail?
Yet, doubtless, when the day of battle comes,
And the two hosts are marshal'd, and in heaven
The golden-crested cock shall sound alarm,
And his black brother-bird from hence reply.
And bucklers clash, and spears begin to pour —
Longing will stir within my breast, though vain.
But not to me so grievous as, I know.
To other gods it were, is my enforced
Absence from fields where I could nothing aid ;
For I am long since weary of your storm
Of carnage, and find, Hermod, in your life
Something too much of war and broils, which make
Life one perpetual fight, a bath of blood.
Mine eyes are dizzy with the arrowy hail ;
Mine ears are stunn'd with blows, and sick for calm.
Inactive, therefore, let me lie in gloom,
Unarm'd, inglorious ; I attend the course
Of ages, and my late return to light,
In times less alien to a spirit mild,
In new-recover'd seats, the happier day."
He spake ; and the fleet Hermod thus replied ; —
MYTHS OF THE NORSE GODS 397
" Brother, what seats are these, what happier day ?
Tell me, that I may ponder it when gone."
And the ray-crowned Balder answered him : —
" Far to the south, beyond the blue, there spreads
Another heaven, the boundless — no one yet
Hath reach'd it ; there hereafter shall arise
The second Asgard, with another name.
Thither, when o'er this present earth and heavens
The tempest of the latter days hath swept,
And they from sight have disappeared and sunk,
Shall a small remnant of the gods repair ;
Hoder and I shall join them from the grave.
There reassembling we shall see emerge
From the bright ocean at our feet an earth
More fresh, more verdant than the last, with fruits
Self-springing, and a seed of man preserved.
Who then shall live in peace, as now in war.
But we in heaven shall find again with joy
The ruin'd palaces of Odin, seats
Familiar, halls where we have supp'd of old,
Reenter them with wonder, never fill
Our eyes with gazing, and rebuild with tears.
And we shall tread once more the well-known plain
Of Ida, and among the grass shall find
The golden dice wherewith we played of yore ;
And that shall bring to mind the former life
And pastime of the gods — the wise discourse
Of Odin, the delights of other days.
0 Hermod, pray that thou may'st join us then !
Such for the future is my hope ; meanwhile,
1 rest the thrall of Hela, and endure
Death, and the gloom which round me even now
Thickens, and to inner gulf recalls.
Farewell, for longer speech is not allowed."
CHAPTER XXVIII
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES
282. The Saga of the Volsttngs.^ Sigi, son of Odin, was a
mighty king of the Huns whom Odin loved and prospered exceed-
ingly. Rerir, also, the son of Sigi, was a man of valor and one who
got lordship and land unto himself ; but neither Sigi nor Rerir were
to compare with Volsungy who ruled over Hunland after his father
Rerir went home to Odin.
To Volsung were bom ten sons and one daughter, — Signy by
name; and of the sons Sigmund was the eldest and the most
valiant. And the Volsungs abode in peace till Siggeir, king of
Gothland, came wooing Signy, who, though loath to accept him,
was, by her father's desire, betrothed to him.
Now on the night of the wedding great fires were made in the
hall of the Volsungs, and in the midst stood Branstock, a great oak
tree, about which the hall had been built, and the limbs of the tree
spread over the roof of the hall ; and round about Branstock they
sat and feasted, and sang of ancient heroes and heard the music
of the harp that went from hand to hand.
But e'en as men's hearts were hearkening some heard the thunder pass *
O'er the cloudless noontide heaven ; and some men turned about
And deemed that in the doorway they heard a man laugh out
Then into the Volsung dwelling a mighty man there strode,
One-eyed and seeming ancient, yet bright his visage glowed ;
Qoud-blue was the hood upon him, and his kirde gleaming-gray
As the latter morning sun-dog when the storm is on the way ;
A bill he bore on his shoulder, whose mighty ashen beam
Burnt bright with the flame of the sea, and the blended silver's gleam.
And such was the guise of his raiment as the Volsung elders had told
Was borne by their fathers' fathers, and the first that warred in the wold.
1 For the Sagas, see § 300 ; and for translations, etc., see § 282 of the Commentaiy.
3 The extracts in verse are from William Morris' Sigurd the Volsung.
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 399
So strode he to the Branstock, nor greeted any lord,
But forth from his cloudy raiment he drew a gleaming sword,
And smote it deep in the tree-bole, and the wild hawks overhead
Laughed 'neath the naked heaven as at last he spake and said :
** Earls of the Goths, and Volsungs, abiders on the earth,
Lo there amid the Branstock a blade of plenteous worth !
The folk of the war-wand's forgers wrought never better steel
Since first the burg of heaven uprose for man-folk's weal.
Now let the man among you whose heart and hand may shift
To pluck it from the oak-wood e'en take it for my gift
Then ne'er, but his own heart falter, its point and edge shall fail
Until the night's beginning and the ending of the tale.
Be merry. Earls of the Goth-folk, O Volsung Sons be wise,
And reap the battle-acre that ripening for you lies :
For they told me in the wild wood, I heard on the mountain-side
That the shining house of heaven is wrought exceeding wide,
And that there the Early-comers shall have abundant rest
While Earth grows scant of great ones, and fadeth from its best,
And fadeth from its midward, and groweth poor and vile : —
All hail to thee. King Volsung ! farewell for a little while ! "
So sweet his speaking sounded, so wise his words did seem
That moveless all men sat there, as in a happy dream
We stir not lest we waken ; but there his speech had end
And slowly down the hall-floor, and outward did he wend ;
And none would cast him a question or follow on his ways,
For they knew that the gift was Odin's, a sword for the world to praise.
Then all made trial, Siggeir and his earls, and Volsung and his
people, to draw forth the sword from Branstock, but with no suc-
cess, till Sigmund, laying his hand carelessly on the precious hilt,
drew forth the naked blade as though it were loose in the oak.
Whereupon Siggeir offered money for the sword, but Sigmund
scorned the offer.
But in time Siggeir had his vengeance. Inviting King Volsung
and his sons to Gothland, he fell upon them, slew the king, and
suffered the sons, fastened under a log, to be devoured in succes-
sion by a she-wolf — all but Sigmund, who through the wile of
his sister Signy was rescued. He, driven to the life of an outlaw,
sought means to avenge his father, and Signy, on her part, strove
to aid him, — without avail, however, till Sinfiotli, the son of
I
I
I
400 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
herself and Sigmund, was grown to manhood. This youth bore
Sigmund company. For a season, as wolves, they scoured the
woods ; finally resuming the form of men, they slew the children
of Siggeir and burned him in his hall. Signy, having helped to
avenge her father, died with her husband.
Sigmund, thereupon, became king, and took to himself a wife.
But she, suffering injury at the hands of Sinfiotli, poisoned him
with a horn of ale. Then Sigmund sorrowed nigh to death over
his son, and drove away that queen, and soon after she died. He
then married Hiordis the fair ; but before long, doing battle against
Lyngi, the son of Hundlng, — a chieftain who also had loved the
fair Hiordis, — he got his death wound :
For lo, through the hedge of the war-shafta a mighty man there came,
One-eyed and seeming andent, but his visage shone like flame ;
Gleaming-gray was his kirtle, and his hood was cloudy-blue ',
And he bore a mighty twibil, as he waded the Rght-sheaves through,
And stood face to face with Sigmund, and upheaved the bill to smite.
Once more round the head of the Volsung fierce glittered the Branatock's light.
The sword that came from Odin ; and Sigmund's cry once more
Rang out to the very heavens above the din of war.
Then clashed the meeting edges with Sigmund's latest stroke,
And in shivering shards fell earthward that fear of worldly folk.
But changed were the eyes of Sigmund, and the war-wrath left his face ;
For that gray-clad mighty helper was gone, and in his place
Drave on the unbroken spear-wood 'gainst the Volsung's empty hands :
And there they smote down Sigmund, the wonder of all lands,
On the foemen, on the death-heap his deeds had piled that day.
To Hiordis, after Sigmund's death, was born Sigurd, like whom
vras never man for comeliness and valor and great-heartedness and
might. He was the greatest of the Volsungs. His foster-father was
Regin, the son of Rodmar. a blacksmith, who taught him the lore
of runes and many tongues ; and, by means of a story of ancient
wrongs, incited him to the destruction of the dragon Fafnir. For
Regin told that while the gods, Odin and Hcenir, were wandering
with Loki near Rodmar's house, Loki slew one of Rodmar's sons.
Otter, Whereupon Rodmar demanded that the gods should fill
.the Otter-skin with gold and cover it with gold. Now Loki, being'
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 401
sent to procure the gold, caught Andvari the dwarf, and from him
procured by force a hoard of the precious metal and with it a magic
ring, whose touch bred gold. But Andvari cursed the ring and
the gold and all that might possess either. The gods forthwith
filled Otter with the dwarf's gold, and surrendered both gold and
ring to Rodmar. Immediately the curse began to work. Fafnir,
brother of Regin and Otter, slew Rodmar and seized the treasure
and, assuming a dragon's form, brooded upon the hoard. With
this tale Regin egged on Sigurd to the undoing of Fafnir. He
welded him, too, a resistless sword out of the shards of Sigmund's
sword. Gram (the wrath). Then Sigurd swore that he would slay
the dragon. But first, riding on his horse, Greyfell, of the blood
of Odin's Sleipnir, he avenged upon the sons of Hunding the
death of his father. This done, Sigurd rode to Glistenheath and
slew Fafnir, the dragon, and eating of his heart, learned the lan-
guage of the birds ; and at their advice he slew Regin also, who
plotted against him.
So, setting the ring of Andvari on his finger and bearing the
gold before him on his horse, Greyfell, Sigurd comes to the Hill
of Hindfell :
And sitteth awhile on Greyfell on the marvelous thing to gaze :
For lo, the side of Hindfell inwrapped by the fervent blaze,
And naught 'twixt earth and heaven save a world of flickering flame,
And a hurrying, shifting tangle, where the dark rents went and came . . .
Now Sigurd turns in his saddle, and the hilt of the Wrath he shifts,
And draws a girth the tighter ; then the gathered reins he lifts,
And crieth aloud to Greyfell, and rides at the wildfire's heart ;
But the white wall wavers before him and the flame-flood rusheth apart,
And high o'er his head it riseth, and wide and wild is its roar
As it beareth the mighty tidings to the very heavenly floor ;
But he rideth through its roaring as the warrior rides the rye.
When it bows with the wind of the summer and the hid spears draw
anigh ;
The white flame licks his raiment and sweeps through Greyfell's mane,
And bathes both hands of Sigurd and the hilts of Fafnir's bane,
And winds about his war-helm and mingles with his hair,
But naught his raiment dusketh or dims his glittering gear ; —
Then it falls and fades and darkens till all seems left behind.
And dawn and the blaze is swallowed in mid-mirk stark and blind. . . •
^ mr
P402 THE CLASSIC MYTHS '
Then before him Sigurd sees a shield-hung castle, surmounted
by a golden buckler, instead of a banner, which rings against the
flagstaff. And he enters and finds the form of one asleep, in armor
i«cap-a-pie.
So he draweth the helm from the head, and, lo, the brow snow-white,
And the sniooth unfurrowed cheeks, and the wise lips breathing light;
And the face of a woman it is, and the fairest that ever was bom,
Shown forth to the empty heavens and the desert world forlom :
But he looketh, and loveth her sore, and he longeth hec spirit to move,
And awaken her heart to the world, that she may behold him and love.
And he toucheth her breast and her hands, and he loveth her passing sore ;
And he saith, "Awake ! I am Sigurd," but she moveth never the more, , . ,
Then with his bright blade Sigurd rends the ring-knit mail that
Fincloses her, " till naught but the rippling linen is wrapping her
about," —
Then a flush cometh over her visage and a sigh upheavelh her breast.
And her eyelids quiver and open, and she wakeneth into rest;
Wide-eyed on the dawning she gazeth, loo glad to change or smile.
And but little moveth her body, nor speaketh she yet for a while ;
And yet kneels Sigurd, moveless, her wakening speech to heed,
While soft the waves of the daylight o'er the starless heavens spieed,
And the gleaming vires of the Shield-burg yet bright and brighter grow.
And the thin moon hangeth her boms dead-white in the golden glow.
Then she turned and gazed on Sigurd, and her eyes met the Volsung's eyes.
And mighty and measureless now .did the tide of his love arise,
For their longing had met and mingled, and he knew of her heart that she
As she spake unto nothing but him and her lips with the speech-dood moved.
Brynhild, it was, — the Valkyrie, — who long time had Iain in
that enchanted sleep that Odin, her father, had poured over her,
dooming her to mortal awakening and to moita! love, for the evil
she had wrought of old when she espoused the cause in battle of
those whom the Noms had predestined to death. Her might none
but the fearless awaken ; and her had Sigurd awakened ; and she
loved him, for he was without fear and godlike. And she taught
him many wise sayings ; and they plighted troth, one lo the other,
ith then and again ; and Sigurd gave her the ring of Andvari.
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 403
But they were not destined to dwell together in wedlock, and
Brynhild, foreseeing the future, knew even this.
Sigurd was to wed with another than Brynhild, and it fell in
this wise. In the land of the Nibelungs (Niblungs, Nibelungen)
dwelt Gudrun, daughter of Giuki, the Nibelung king. And Gudrun
dreamed a dream in which a fair hawk feathered with feathers of
gold alighted upon her wrist. She went to Brynhild for the inter-
pretation of the dream. ** The hawk," said Brynhild, ** is Sigurd."
And so it came to pass. Sigurd, visiting the court of the Nibelungs,
was kindly entreated by King Giuki and his three sons, Gunnar,
Hogni, and Guttorm ; and he performed deeds of valor such that
they honored him. But after many days, Grimhild, the mother
of Gudrun, administered to Sigurd a magic potion that removed
from him all memory of Brynhild. So Sigurd loved and wedded
the fair Gudrun. Indeed he soon joined others in urging his
wife's brother Gunnar, a doughty warrior, to sue for the hand of
Brynhild herself. But Brynhild would have no one that could
not ride through the flames drawn up around her hall. After
Gunnar had made two unsuccessful attempts, Sigurd, assuming
the form of King Gunnar, mounted Greyfell and rode for the
second time through the flames of Hindfell. Then, still wearing
the semblance of Gunnar, he gained the consent of Brynhild to
the union, and exchanged rings with her, — she giving him
none other than the ancient ring of Andvari back again. But
even this did not recall to Sigurd's memory his former ride and
his former love. Returning to the land of the Nibelungs, he
announced the success of his undertaking and told all things to
Gudrun, giving her the fatal ring that he had regained from
Brynhild.
In ten days came Brynhild by agreement to the Hall of the
Nibelungs, and though she knew well the deceit that had been
practiced on her, she made no sign ; nay, was wedded, according
to her promise, to King Gunnar. But as they sat at the wedding-
feast, the charm of Grimhild was outworn, — Sigurd looked upon
Gunnar's bride and knew the Brynhild of old, the Valkyrie, whom
he had loved ; "and Brynhild's face drew near him with eyes
grown stem and strange."
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
H|04
^V But, apparently, all went well till the young queens, one
^1 bathing in the Water of the Nibelungs, fell into contention <
^B matter of privilege. Brynhild claimed precedence in entering the
^H river on the ground that Gunnar was the liege lord of Sigurd.
^B Gudnin, white with wrath, flashed out the true story of the ride
^" through the flames, and thrust in Brynhild's face the Andvari
ring. Consumed with jealousy, Brynhild plotted revenge. She
loved Sigurd still, and he, since he had regained his memory,
could not overcome his love for her. But the insult from Gudrun
Brynhild would not brook. By her machinations, Guttorm, the
brother of Gudrun, was incited to slay Sigurd. He, accordingly,
stabbed the hero while asleep, but Sigurd, throwing Gram at the
assassin, cut him in twain before he could escape.
Woe me ! how the house of the Niblungs by another cry was rent,
The awakening wail of Gudrun, as she shrank in the river of blood
From the breast of the mighty Sigurd ; he heard it and understood,
And rose up on the sword of Guttorm, and turned from the country of death,
And spake words of loving-kindness as he strove for life and breath ;
" Wail not, O child of the Niblungs ! I am smitten, but thou shalt live,
In remembrance of our glory, mid the gifts the gods shall give ! . . .
It is Brynhild's deed," he murmured, "and the woman that loves me well;
Nought now is left to repent of, and the tale abides to tell.
I have done many deeds in my life-days, and all these, and my love, (hey lie
In the hollow hand of Odin till the day of the world go by.
' I have done and I may not undo, I have given and I take not again ;
I Art thou other than I, Allfather, wilt thou gather my glory in vain?"
So ended the life of Sigurd. Brynhild, overcome with sorrow,
dealt herself a mortal wound and was burned on the funeral pyre
beside Sigurd the Volsung.
In time Gudrun became the queen of Atli, the Budlung. He,
in order to obtain the hoard of Sigurd, which had passed into the
hands of the Nibelungs, —Gudrun's brothers, — bade them visit
him in Hunland. Fully warned by Gudrun, they still accepted the
invitation and, arriving at the hall of Atli, were after a fearful con-
flict slain. But they did not surrender the hoard — ■ that lay con-
i cealed at the bottcHn of the Rhine. Gudrun with the aid of Nibelung,
r brother Hogni's son, in the end slew Adi, set fire to his hall.
^
I
II
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 405
and brought ruin on the Budlung folk. Then leaping into the sea,
she was borne with Swanhild, her daughter by Sigurd, to the realm
of King Jonakr, who became her third husband. Swanhild, ** fair-
est of all women, eager-eyed as her father, so that few durst look
under the brows of her," met, by stress of love and treachery, a
foul end in a foreign land, trampled under foot of horses.
Finally Gudrun sent her sons by Jonakr to avenge their half-
sister's death ; and so, bereft of all her kin and consumed with
sorrow, she called upon her ancient lover, Sigurd, to come and
look upon her, as he had promised, from his abiding-place among
the dead. And thus had the words of her sorrow an end.
Her sons slew Jormunrek, the murderer of Swanhild, but were
themselves done to death by the counsel and aid of a certain war-
rior, seeming ancient and one-eyed, — Odin the forefather of the
Volsungs, — the same that had borne Sigi fellowship, and that
struck the sword into Branstock of Volsung*s hall, and that faced
Sigmund and shattered Gram in the hour of Sigmund's need, and
that brought to Sigurd the matchless horse Greyfell, and oft again
had appeared to the kin of the Volsungs; — the same god now
wrought the end of the Nibelungs. The hoard and the ring of
Andvari had brought confusion on all into whose hands they fell.
283. The Lay of the Nibelungs.^ In the German version of this
story — called the Nibelungenlied — certain variations of name,
incident, and character appear. Sigurd is Siegfried, dwelling in
Xanten near the Rhine, the son of Siegmund and Siegelind, king
and queen of the Netherlands. Gudrun is Kriemhild, sister of
Gunther (Gunnar), king of the Burgundians, and niece of Hagen
(Hogni), a warrior of dark and sullen mien, cunning, but withal
loyal and brave, the foe of the glorious Siegfried. Siegfried weds
Kriemhild, takes her to the Netherlands and lives happily with her,
enjoying the moneys of the Nibelungen hoard, which he had taken
not from a dwarf, as in the Norse version, but from two princes,
the sons of King Nibelung. Meanwhile Gunther dwells in peace
in the Burgundian land, husband of the proud Brunhild, whom
Siegfried had won for him by stratagem not altogether unlike that
1 For Records of German Mythology, see § 301, below; for literature and translations,
see §§ 283 and 301 of the Commentary.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
had de~ 1
surpass V
fof the Norse story. For the Brunhild of the YsseUand had
I clared that she would many no man save him who should
I her in athletic contest. This condition Siegfried, wearing the Tam-
l kappe, a cloak that rendered him invisible, had fulfilled for Gun-
Itiier. He had also succored poor Gunther after his marriage with
I Brunhild. For that heroine, in contempt of Gunther's strength,
had bound him hand
and foot and suspended
him from a nail on their
bedroom wall. By
agreement Siegfried
had again assumed Gun-
ther's form and, after a
fearful tussle with the
queen, had reduced her
to submission, taking
from her the ring and
girdle which were the
secret sources of her
strength, and leaving
her to imagine that she
had been conquered by
her bridegroom, Gun-
ther. The ring and
girdle Siegfried had be-
stowed upon Kriemhild,
unwisely telling her at
the same time the story of Brunhild's defeat. Although the Nibe-
lungenlied oifers no explanation, it is evident that the injured queen
I of YsseUland had recognized Siegfried during this ungallant in-
I trigue ; and we are led to infer that there had been some previous
' acquaintance and passage of love between them.
At any rate, Siegfried and Kriemhild, retiring to the Nether-
lands, were ruling happily at Xanten by the Rhine ; and all might
have continued in peace had not Brunhild resented the lack of
homage paid by Siegfried, whom she had been led to regard as a
I'assaJ, to Gunther, his reputed overlord.
:o by Julius Schnurr von
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 407
In her heart this thought she fostered, deep in its inmost core ; '
That still they kept such distance, a secret grudge she bore.
How came it tliat their vassal to court declined to go.
Nor for bis land did homage, she inly yearned to know.
She made request of Gunther, and begged it so might be.
That she the absent Kriemhild yet once again might see,
And told him, too, in secret, whereon her thoughts were bent, —
Then with the words she uttered her lord was scarce content.
But Gunther yielded,
and Siegfried and Kriem-
hild were invited to Worms,
nominally to attend a high
festival.
. . . With what joy and gladness
welcomed were they there !
It seemed when came dame
Brunhild to Burgundy
whilere,
Her welcome by dame Kriemhik]
Iras tender was and true ;
The heart of each beholder beat
higher at the view. . . .
Received was bold Sir Siegfried,
as fitted well his state,
With the highest honors; no
man bore him hate.
Young Giselher and Gemot
proffered all courtly care ;
Never met friend or kinsman
reception half so fair.
One day at the hour of vespers certain knights proved them
selves at tilting in the regal cour^rd Conspicuous among these
was Siegfried. And the proud queens sittmg together were thmk
ing each on the good knight that she loved full well Then out
spoke fair Kriemhild, " My husband is of such might that surely
he should rule these realms , Brunhild answered So long as
Gunther lives that can never be
Fig 189 SiBGFKIED A
From the fretco by Julius Scfanorr von Carolsfeld
4o8 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
. . , Thereto rejoined fair Kriemhild, " See'at thou how proud he stands,
How proud he stalks, conspicuous among those warrior bands,
As doih the moon far-beaming the glimmering stars outshine?
Sure have 1 cause to pride me when such a knight is mine."
Thereto rephed queen Brunhild, " How brave soe'er he be,
How stout soe'er or stately, one greater is than he.
Gunther, thy noble brother, a higher place may claim.
Of knights and kings the foremost in merit and in fame."
So began the altercation. It attained its climax the same day,
when each queen attempted to take precedence of the other in
entering the cathedral for the celebration of the mass.
Both met before the minster in all the people's sight ;
There at once the hostess let out her deadly spite.
Bitterly and proud she bade fair Kriemhild stand;
"No vassaless precedeth the lady of the land."
Then, full of wrath, Kriemhild, in terms anything but delicate,
acquainted her haughty sister-in-law with the deception that had
twice been practiced upon her by Siegfried and Gunther ; nay,
worse, corroborated her statement by displaying both ring and
girdle that Brunhild had lost. The altercation came to the ears
of the kings. Gunther made complaint to Siegfried. Then,
..." Women must be instructed," said Siegfried, the good knight,
" To leave off idle talking and rule their tongues aright.
Keep thy fair wife in order, I 'II do by mine the same.
Such overweening folly puts me indeed to shame."
But it was too late to mend the matter, With devilish intent Brun-
hild plotted vengeance. Siegfried, the author of her mortification,
must die the death. The foes of Siegfried persuaded his wife, un-
aware of their design, to embroider in his vesture a silken cross over
the one spot where the hero was vulnerable. Then the crafty Hagen,
who had been suborned by Brunhild to the baleful deed, bided his
time. One day, Gunther, Hagen, and Siegfried, heated in running,
stayed by a brook to drink. Hagen saw his chance.
. . . Then, as to drink. Sir Siegfried down kneeling there he foundl,
He pierced him through the crosslet, that audden from the wound
Forth the life-blood spurted, e'en o'er his murderer's weed.
Nevermore will warrior dare so foul a deed. . . .
MYTHS OF NORSE AND OLD GERMAN HEROES 409
. . . With blood were all bedabbled the flowerets of the field.
Some time with death he struggled as though he scorned to yield
E'en to the foe whose weapon strikes down the loftiest head.
At last prone in the meadow lay mighty Siegfried dead.
Brunhild glories in the fall of Siegfried and exults over the
mourning widow. Kriemhild, sitting apart, nurses schemes of
vengeance. Her brothers affect to patch up the breach in order
that they may obtain the hoard of the Nibelungs. But this treas-
ure, after it has been brought to Worms, is sunk, for precaution's
sake, by Hagen, in the Rhine. Although in time Kriemhild be-
comes the wife of King Etzel (Atli, Attila) of Hunland, still she
does not forget the injury done her by her kin. After thirteen
years she inveigles her brothers and their retainers, called now
Nibelungs because of their possession of the hoard, to Etzel's
court, where, after a desperate and dastardly encounter, in which
their hall is reduced to ashes, they are all destroyed save Gunther
and Hagen. Immediately, thereafter, Gunther's head is cut off at
her orders ; and she herself, with Siegfried's sword Balmung,
severs the head of the hated Hagen from his body. With these
warriors the secret of the hidden hoard passes. Kriemhild, having
wreaked her vengeance, falls by the hand of one of her husband's
knights, Hildebrand, who, with Dietrich of Bern, had played a
prominent part among the associates of King Etzel.
" I cannot say you now what hath befallen since ;
The women all were weeping, and the Ritters and the prince,
Also the noble squires, their dear friends lying dead :
Here hath the story ending ; this is the Nibelungen's Need." ^
1 From Carlyle's translation of fragments of the poem.
I
CHAPTER XXIX
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG
284. Wagner's Tetralogy. In his famous Ring of the Nibelung
the German composer, Richard Wagner, returns to the Norse version
of the stories recounted in the chapter preceding this. He is respon-
sible not only for the musical score of the four operas of which the
Rmg consists, but for the text and scenic arrangement as well. As
musical dramas the four plays constitute the grandest series of the
kind that the world possesses. But even if they were not wedded
to such music, the Rhine-gold, the Valkyrie, the Siegfried, and
the Twilight (or Dusk) of the Gods would be entitled, for creative
invention, imaginative insight and power, and poetic diction, to rank
with notable dramas, ancient or modem. The tetralogy (or series
of four) presents the whole story of the accursed Nibelung gold,
from that dawn when it was wrested from the daughters of the
Rhine to that dusk when it was restored, having wrought mean-
while the doom of Nibelungs, Volsungs, and the gods themselves,
285. The Rhine-gold. We are at the bottom of the Rhine : a
greenish twilight, and moving water, and everywhere sharp points
of rocks jutting from the depths. Around the central rock three
Rhine-daughters swim, guarding it carefully, but laughing and
playing, and chasing one the other as they guard. To them from
a chasm climbs Aiberich, the Nibelung, he who in the old Norse
lay was known as Andvari. He views the maidens with increasing
pleasure. He addresses them, he clambers after them, he strives
to catch them ; they lure him on, they mock him and escape his
grasp ; he woos them each in turn, all unsuccessfully. He gazes
upward — " Could I but catch one " ; then once more failing, re-
mains in speechless rage. Rage stxin transformed to wonder : for
through the water from above there filters a brightening glow, a
410
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 411
magical light, streaming from the summit of the central rock where
in tiie splendor of the morning sun the Rhine-gold laughs a-kindle.
" What is it, ye sleek ones.
That there doth gleam and glow ? " ^
Has he never heard of the Rhine-gold ? they ask. Of the won-
drous star whose glory lightens the waves? He has not. He scorns it.
" The golden charm," cries one of the maidens, —
" The golden charm
Wouldst thou not flout
Knewest thou all of its wonders."
" The world's wealth,*' jeers another,
" Could be won by a man
If out of the Rhine-gold
He fashioned the Ring
That measureless might can bestow . . .
He who the sway
Of love forswears,
He who delight
Of love forbears,
Only he can master the magic
That forces the gold to a ring ! "
** But we fear not thec: — oh, no — for thou bumest in love for us.*'
So, lightly sing the Rhine-daughters; but Alberich, with his
eyes on the gold, has heeded well their chatter. " The world's
wealth," he mutters ; " might I win that by the spell of the gold ?
Nay, though love be the forfeit, my cunning shall win me delight."
Then terribly loud he cries, •
" Mock ye, mock on !
The Nibelung neareth your toy ; — "
then, clambering with haste to the summit,
" My hand, it quenches your light ;
I wrest from the rock your gold ;
I fashion the ring of revenge ;
Now, hear me, ye floods —
Accursed be love henceforth."
1 For the translations of the Ring, especially the verse, I am indebted to the edition
of Frederick Jameson (Schott & Co., London).
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
F
^J-Tearing the gold from the rock, he plunges into the depths and
^^ disappears. After him dive the maidens. In vain. Far, far below,
^B from Nibelheim rises the mocking laughter of Alberich, Lord of
■ the Gold.
^R The scene changes. An open space on a mountain height be-
comes visible. The dawning day lights up a castle, glittering with
pinnacles, on the top of a cliff. Below flows silent the Rhine, At
one side, on a flowery bank, Wotan (Odin), king of the gods, lies
sleeping, and Fricka (Frigga) his wife. They wake. Wotan turns
toward his castle, new-built by the giants, and exults ; but Fricka
reminds him of the terrible price that is yet to be paid for its build-
»ing, — none other, forsooth, than the person of Freia, the fair one,
■ the goddess of spring and love, she who tends the garden of the
gods, and whose apples, eaten from day to day, confer eternal
youth, — she is the wage that the giants will claim.
" I mind me well of the bargain," returns Wotan, " but I give
no thought to fulfil! it. My casUe stands ; for the wage — fret not
I thyself."
"Oh, laughing, impious lightness," reproves him Fricka, "thy
bargain is fast, and is still to rue."
Nay, on the moment rushes Freia to them, pleading, pursued
'iby the giants. "Give her to us I " they cry, — Fasolt and Fafner,
joiighty twain that unslumbering had reared the walls of Wotan 's
jcastle, to win them a woman, winsome and sweet.
" Now pay us our wage I "
" Nay," coolly answers Wotan, " other guerdon ask. Freia may
I not grant 1 "
But the giants insist. They accuse the god of faithlessness. He
jests with them, temporizing, awaiting anxiously the arrival of
Loge (Loki), spirit of cunning, at whose suggestion that bargain
had been struck. For even then-I^ge had secredy assured Wotan
that Freia should in the emergency be ransomed. The giants,
indignant at the delay, press on Freia. She calls on her brothers,
Froh (Freyr) and Donner (Thor), They rush to her rescue : Froh
clasps the fair one ; Donner plants himself before the importunates.
^H " Know ye the weight of my hammer's blow .' " thunders he.
^Bm There is 'battle in the air.
«1
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 413
Then enters Loge, demon of fire, mischief-maker, traitor, and
thief, whom long ago Wotan had Hfted from his evil brood and
of him made a friend and counselor.
** Now hear, crabbed one ; keep thy word," says Wotan, sharply.
Loge appears to be nonplussed. He has restlessly searched to
the ends of the world to find a ransom for Freia ; " but naught is
so rich that giant or man will take it as price for a woman's worth
and delight." He has sought amid the forces of water and earth
and cdr ; " but naught is so mighty that giant or man will prefer it
above a woman's worth and delight ! " And yet, — slyly Loge lets
fall the word, — there is the ruddy Gold :
" Yea, one I looked on, but one^ who love's delights forswore,
for ruddy gold renouncing the wealth of woman's grace."
And he recounts the marvels of the Rhine-gold. The giants
offer to take it in lieu of Freia ; nay, gods and goddesses as well
are held by the charm of the glittering hoard; by the lure, and
the dread too, of the Ring that, once fashioned, gives measureless
might to its lord. Even now, doubtless, he who has forsworn love
has muttered the magic rune and rounded the sovereign circlet of
gold. If so, the gods themselves shall be his slaves, — slaves of
llie Nibelung Alberich.
The ring I must win me," decides Wotan.
But at the cost of love } " queries Froh.
Loge counsels the theft of the gold from Alberich and its resto-
ration to the daughters of the Rhine. But the gods are not thus far-
sighted, and the giants insist upon the hoard as their due. They seize
Freia, and bear her away as pledge till that ransom be paid. . . .
" Alack, what aileth the gods ? "
It is Loge who speaks. A pale mist falls upon the scene, gradually
growing denser. The light of the heavenly abodes is quenched. Wo-
tan and all his clan become increasingly wan and aged. Freia of the
Garden is departed : the apples of youth are decaying ; " old and gray,
worn and withered, the scoff of the world, dies out the godly race ! "
"Up, Loge," calls Wotan, dismayed, ''descend with me. To
Nibelheim go we together. To win back our youth, the golden
ransom must I gain."
E
¥
I
14 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The scene changes to Nibelheim, the subterranean home of the
Nibelungs. Wotan and Loge find Mime, Alberich's brother, be-
wailing the fate of the Nibelungs — for Alberich has fashioned
the Ring and all below groan under his tyranny. Even now, reluc-
tantly indeed. Mime is forging the Tamkebn for his tyrant brother,
— a wishingcap by whose magic the wearer may transfer himsdf
through space and assume whatever form he please, or make him-
self invisible, at will. Alberich, in the flush of power, enters, driv-
ing before him with brandished whip a host of Nibelungs from
the caverns. They are laden with gold and silver handiwork. At
Alberich's command they heap it in a pile. He draws the Ring from
his finger; the vanquished host trembles and, shrieking, cowers
away.
"What seek ye here.'" demands he, looking long and suspi-
ciously at Wotan and Loge.
They have heard strange tidings, says Wotan, and they come to
see the wonders that Alberich can work. Then Loge induces the
Nibelung lord to exhibit the virtues of the Tamhelm. Readily
beguiled, he displays his necromantic power. First he transforms
himself into a loathly dragon. The gods pretend dismay : — he
can make himself great ; can he make himself small, likewise ?
" Pah, nothing simpler I Look at me now 1 " He dons the Tam-
helm, and lo, a toad 1
"There, grasp quickly," says Loge, Wotan places his foot on
the toad, and Loge seizes the Tarnhelm. Alberich becomes visible
in his own form, writhing under Wotan 's foot. The gods bind him
and drag him to the chasm by which they had descended.
The scene changes to the open space before Valhalla, Alberich,
dragged in by Loge, is forced to deliver up the hoard and the
Tamhelm and the Ring. Wotan contemplates the Ring and puts
it on. Alberich is set at liberty.
" Am I now free ? " cries he, " free in sooth .' Thus greets you
then my freedom's foremost word : As by curse it came to me, ac-
cursed forever be this Ring I As its gold gave measureless might,
let now its magic deal death to its lord. Its wealth shall yield
pleasure to none. Care shall consume him who doth hold it. All
11 lust after its delights ; yet naught shall it boot him who wins
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 415
the prize ! To its lord no gain let it bring ; and forever be mur-
der drawn in its wake, till again once more in my hand, rewon, I
hold it ! "
. So the baffled Nibelung curses, and departs. Then enter Fricka,
Donner, and Froh, followed soon by the giants, who bring Freia
back. They refuse, Fasolt and Fafner, to release the fair goddess
until she is fully redeemed ; and they claim not only Tarnhelm
and gold, but Ring as well. With the Ring Wotan refuses to part.
In that moment rises from a rocky cleft the goddess of the earth,
Erda, the beloved of heaven's god, and mother by him of the
Valkyries.
"Yield it, Wotan, yield it," she cries wamingly. "Flee the
Ring's dread curse."
" What woman wameth me thus ? "
" All that e'er was, know I," pronounces Erda :
" How all things are ;
How all things shall be.
Hear me ! hear me ! hear me !
All that e'er was, endeth :
A darksome day
Dawns for your godhood !
Be counseled ; give up the Ring."
She vanishes, the all-wise one ; and Wotan surrenders the Ring.
Freia is redeemed, and the gods glow again with youth. No sooner
have the giants gained possession of the Ring than they proceed
to quarrel over it. Fafner strikes out with his staff and stretches
Fasolt on the ground. From the dying man he hastily wrests the
Ring, puts it into his sack, and goes on quietly packing the gold.
In a solemn silence the gods stand horrified. Care and fear fetter
the soul of Wotan. That he may shake himself free of them he
determines to descend to Erda; she yet can give him counsel.
But first, — for Donner has cleared with his thunder and lightning
the clouds that had overspread the scene, — he will enter ** Val-
halla," his castle, golden-gleaming in the evening sunlight.
** What meaneth the name, then } " asks Fricka, as they cross
the rainbow bridge.
4l6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Wotan evades the question, for he still dreads the curse pro-
nounced by the Nibelung upon all who have owned the Ring ; and
that name, ** Valhalla," indicates just the means by which he hopes
to escape the curse. He has thought to avert the doom of the gods
by gathering in this Valhalla, or Hall of the Slain, the spirits of
heroes fallen in battle — especially of heroes of a race that shall
spring from himself, the Volsungs (or Walsungs) yet to be bom.
They shall do battle for the gods when sounds the crack of doom.
But of all this Wotan says naught. He will say in the hour of his
triumph.
As the gods enter Valhalla the plaints of the Rhine-maidens
for the loss of their gold arise from the river below.
286. In The Valkyrie Wotan proceeds with his plan. During
his wanderings on earth, under the name of Walse, he has become
the father of twin children, Siegmund and Sieglinde. These have,
in early youth, been separated by the murderous turmoil of warring
clans, but now they are to be reunited ; and Wotan, with a primi-
tive disregard of the fact that they are brother and sister, intends
to make them man and wife, in order that from them may issue
the heroic race that, in the latter days, shall defend Valhalla from
the onslaught of the powers of evil.
The play opens with the interior of a woodland lodge. In the
center rises the stem of a mighty ash tree, about which has been
built an apartment of roughly hewn logs. It is toward evening
and a violent thunderstorm is just subsiding. This is the home
of Hunding, chieftain of the Neiding clan. The door opens, and
Siegmund, flying from his enemies, wounded and weaponless,
enters. Seeing no one, he closes the door, strides toward the fire,
and throws himself wearily down on a bearskin :
" Whoe'er own this hearth,
Here must I rest me."
He remains stretched out motionless. A woman enters from an
inner chamber. It is Sieglinde. She takes compassion on the
helpless fugitive, admires his noble bearing, gives him drink, and
bids him tany till her husband be home. They gaze upon each
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 417
other with ever-increasing interest and emotion. Suddenly Sieg-
mund starts up as if to go.
Who pursues thee } " she inquires.
Ill fate pursues where'er I go. To thee, wife, may it never
come. Forth from thy house I fly."
She calls him back. **Then bide thou here. Thou canst not
bring ill fate where ill fate already makes its home."
He leans against the hearth. Again the eyes of the twain meet.
Hunding enters, regards the stranger with suspicion, notes the
resemblance between him and Sieglinde ; but he consents to harbor
him for the night.
" Thy name and fortune ? "
" Wehwalt," says Siegmund, " for woe still waits on my steps ;
Wehwalt, the son of Wolfe." And thus concealing his race, he
tells a story in other respects true : how in his childhood a cruel
host had laid waste his home and killed his mother and carried
away the sister who was his twin, and how he and his father, the
Wolf, for years had battied in the woodlands against the Neidings.
The Neidings ! They are Hunding's clan.
" My house holds thee. Wolfing, to-night. To-morrow defend
thee ; with death thou shalt pay for this life ! " And Hunding
withdraws, Sieglinde with him.
Siegmund is weaponless. The firelight sends a sudden glow
upon the ash tree, and a sword-hilt there sends back an answering
gleam. But Siegmund knows not what it means. Clad in white,
Sieglinde steals from the inner room. She has left Hunding
asleep, overcome by a slumberous draft.
" Thy coming is life," cries Siegmund.
" A weapon, now, let me show thee," she replies. And she tells
how, on the day of her unhappy wedding, a stranger, all in gray,
low-hatted and one-eyed, had entered the Hunding hall and struck
into the ash stem a sword that none but the bravest of heroes could
win, and how all in turn had tried in vain to draw forth the sword.
Now she knows for whom it was ordained, —
" It was for thee, my deliverer, my hero held in my arms ! "
They embrace. He declares his lineage. He is son of him
whose eye proudly glistened from under the low-brimmed hat, —
f4l8 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
son of Walse, the wanderer. He is Siegmund, the Victorious. For
him, the sword Nothung. — And he draws it easily forth,
"Art thou Siegmund?" she cries; "Sieglinde am I. Thine
own twin sister thou winnest at once with the sword,"
" Bride and sister be to thy brother; then flourish the Walsungs
for aye ! "
So the twain make their compact.
In the second act we are transported to a wild and rocky place.
Before Wotan, fully armed and carrying his spear, stands Briinn-
hilde, the warrior maid, likewise fully armed. She is one of the
nine Valkyries, daughters of Wotan and Erda, fostered for battle
that they might forfend the doom foretold by Erda herself, — the
shameful defeat of the gods. Well have the Valkyrs, choosers
of the slain, performed their task, stirring mortal hearts to battle
I and riding through the air above to designate the bravest for
death, and with their spirits to fill the halls on Valhalla's height.
Now, however, Wotan is ordering Briinnhitde to haste to the
fray, — not on death's errand but on errand of life, — to shield
Siegmund the Walsung in the fight. The Valkyrie springs
shouting from rock to rock, and disappears behind the mountain
crags.
All seems to be arranged. But lo, Fricka, in her ram-drawn
car I She descends and strides toward her scheming spouse. The
goddess has heard the cry of Hunding, calling for vengeance on
the twinbom pair who have rashly wrought him wrong; and as
guardian of wedlock she demands the death of Siegmund in the
coming conflict. Wotan tries to persuade her that Siegmund's
success is needful to the gods, — the warrior band of mortal souls
gathered by the Valkyries in the heights of Valhalla cannot alone
suflfice to avert the onslaught of the powers of darkness.
" Needed is one who, free from help of godhood, fights free
of the godhead's control. Only such an one is meet for the deed
which is denied to a god to achieve,"
But Fricka is not to be deceived nor thwarted in her aim. She
brushes aside the plea of Wotan and his subterfuge, — who has
ever heard that heroes can accomplish what the gods cannot ? And
. as for heroes unaided — none such is Siegmund.
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 419
**Who was it," she asks, "that brought him his conquering
sword ? and whose shield is ordained to cover him in the fight ? "
*M cannot overthrow him," breaks out Wotan; "he has found
my sword."
" Destroy its magic then," retorts the implacable queen. " Give
word to thy shouting war-maid that Siegmund fall ! "*
Wotan is conquered. Sadly he revokes the order given to Briinn-
hilde.
" Then takest thou from Siegmund thy shield ? " cries that one
in amazement.
And the god : " Yea ! though Alberich's host threaten our down-
fall ; though again the Ring be won by the Nibelung, and Valhalla
be lost forever. By bargains bound myself, I may not wrest the
Ring from the foeman, from Faf ner the giant. Therefore, to fulfill
my purpose, I had thought to create a Free One who for me should
fight. Now, with loathing, I find ever myself in all my hand has
created. The Other for whom I have longed, that Other I never
shall find. Himself must the Free One create him; my hand
shapes nothing but slaves. For when this hand of mine touched
Alberich's Ring, my heart grew greedy of gold. I fled from the
curse, but the curse flies not from me. What I love best must I
surrender ; whom most I cherish, I must slay. One thing awaits
me yet — the downfall! Yea, that portended Erda, — Erda, the
all-wise.
" * When the dusky foe,' she said, —
* When the dusky foe of love
Grimly getteth a son,
The doom of the gods
Delays not long ! '
And of late I have heard that the Nibelung has bought him a
wife. Their son shall inherit, — their son, the child of spite, shall
inherit the empty pomp of the gods ! "
It was of Hagen, yet unborn, the baleful curse of the Volsungs,
of Hagen, the traitor, that Erda had prophesied. And thus dimly
is foreshadowed the Twilight of the Gods.
But Briinnhilde ?
O THE CLASSIC MYTHS
" Siegmund thou hast taught me to love," murmurs the Val-
I ^rie. Then boldly, —
" For his sake thy wavering word I defy ! "
The war-father turns in wrath upon this new rebellion, and on
[ pain of eternal penalty enjoins upon his daughter her new duty :
" Fight truly for Fricka ! Siegmund strike thou I Such be the
[ Valkyrie's task! "
The war-maid seeks out Siegmund and announces to him his
approaching death. But that hero's distress at the thought of part-
ing from Sieglinde stirs her to the quick. And, in the moment
of battle, Briinnhilde disobeys the AU-father's injunction; —she
shields the warrior whom she loves. Then suddenly appears Wotan,
standing over Handing and holding his spear across in front of
Siegmund.
"Go back from the spear! In splinters the sword!" shouts
the god.
In terror Briinnhilde sinks back. Siegmund's sword breaks on
the outstretched spear, and Hunding pierces the Volsung's breast.
Briinnhilde hastily gathers the bits of the broken sword, lifts Sieg-
linde to horse, and escapes through the gorges behind.
The scene changes to the Valkyries' rocky home. Through the
[ drifting clouds come riding the eight sisters of Briinnhilde, in full
'. armor each, and each bearing before her the body of some slain
hero. They await Briinnhilde, She, fleeing from Wotan 's pursuit,
at last arrives. She implores them to shield Sieglinde from the
wrath of the god, but unsuccessfully ; and then she urges Sieglinde
to fly. At first, benumbed by despair, the widowed woman refuses ;
but when Briinnhilde mentions the child that is to be bom — the
world's most glorious hero — she consents.
" Him thou shalt bear, thy son and Siegmund's. For him ward
thou well these mighty splinters of his father's sword. He shall
weld them anew and swing the victorious blade ! His name from me
t let him lake— ' Siegfried"; for Siegfried in triumph shall live! "
Comforted and hopeful, Sieglinde betakes herself to that forest
fer to the east, where the Nibelung's hoard had been borne by Faf-
Oer. There, in dragon's form, he guarded the gold and the Ring ;
l^d thither Wotan is not likely to pursue.
I;
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 42 1
It thunders and lightens. Wotan, raging terribly, strides from
crag to crag. The other Valkyries are driven from the scene.
Briinnhilde hears her doom :
" The heavenly host
No more shall know thee ;
Outcast art thou
From the clan of the gods :
The bond by thee has been broken ;
Henceforth from sight of my face art thou banned 1 "
Immortal, she had followed the might of love ; mortal, now she
shall sleep, and that sleep shall endure till one comes to awaken her;
and to him, whosoe'er it may be, she shall be subject thenceforth.
The Valkyrie drops to her knees :
"Ah, let no craven awake me ! " she cries. "Surround me with
horrors, with fires that shall fright : that none but the most fearless
of heroes may find me here on the fell ! "
Wotan accedes to her petition. He kisses her on both eyes and
lays her unconscious, asleep, in the shade of a broad-branching fir
tree. Then,—
" Appear ! Come, waving fire,
And wind thee in flames round the fell !
Loge, Loge, appear I "
A sea of flames encircles the spot, and Wotan proclaims :
** He who my spear-point's
Sharpness feareth
Shall cross not this flaming fire ! ''
Alone, under her long steel shield, sleeps the Vallgoie.
287. Siegfried. The drama of Siegfried opens in the cavern of
Mime, in the forest " far to the east " to which Sieglinde had fled.
Mime, the dwarf, is he whom erstwhile his Nibelung brother, Albe-
rich, then lord of the Ring, had held in thrall at the bottom of the
Rhine. Some years before the events represented in this play, the
dwarf had found Sieglinde dying in the woods, and had received
from her Siegfried, her newborn son, and with him the pieces of
Siegmund's broken sword, Nothung.
422 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Young Siegfried, noble, proud, and strong, has been nurtured
in ignorance of his lineage and destiny, as Mime's son. But of
that lineage and destiny the cunning dwarf is well aware ; and
while he trains Siegfried to doughty deeds, he ceaselessly forges
at the splinters of the sword, hoping to reweld them himself and
through Siegfried's might to win victory over Fafner, the present
lord of the Ring, and so achieve unmeasured wealth and the mas-
tery of the world. But Siegfried despises his foster-father and
seeks ever to discover the story of his own descent. The attempts
of Mime to shape anew the pieces of Nothung fail ; and he daily
forges other swords, which Siegfried scorns and breaks at the firet
trial. In the course of time, however, there comes to Mime's cave a
"Wanderer"- — it is Wotan himself — and tells the dwarf that
only one, a man who knows not fear, can remake the all-conquer-
ing sword. He tells him, too, of the mighty spear, fashioned of
world ash tree's hallowed branches, with which he, Wotan, rules
the earth. But no word he says of the doom that is to befall that
spear at the blow of the conquering sword, — the doom, forsooth,
of the gods themselves.
Mime, after trying in vain to arouse in Siegfried the sense ol
fear, suggests to the youth that he try to reforge Nothung. Sieg-
fried seizes the splinters, pounds them, and files them to powder ;
melts them over the charcoal of the ash tree's stem, and, singing
at his work, refashions the sword. While this is doing, through
the pauses of Siegfried's song can be heard the voice of Mime,
muttering: "The sword will be forged . . . and Fafner van-
quished. , . . When Siegfried has slain that dragon ... he will
be athirst. ... I will brew him a drink. . . . One drop will lay
him in sleep. . . . With the sword that he forges I '11 kill him.
, , , Mine, then, the Ring and the hoard ! "
At last the sword is shaped and sharpened. Siegfried swings it
before him :
" Nothung, Nothung, conquering sword ; again to life have I
woke thee ! Strike at the traitor, cut down the knave ! See, Mime,
thou smith ; so sunders Siegfried's sword ! " and he strikes the
anvil in twain from top to bottom. It falls asunder with a great
noise, and the dwarf drops with terror to the ground.
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG . 423
The scene changes to the forest in front of Fafner's cave.
Alberich is watching gloomily by, and the Wanderer rides in to
taunt him with false hope of the Ring.
** A hero nears to set free the hoard," says the Wanderer. " Faf-
ner will fall. Perchance if Alberich warn the dragon, he may win
the Ring in token of gratitude."
Alberich makes the approaches. Fafner yawns : " I have and I
hold ; let me slumber ! "
With scornful laughter the Wanderer rides away. But "one
day," snarls Alberich, — **one day shall I see you all fade, ye
light-hearted eternals. The wise one keepeth his watch and surely
worketh his spite I "
As the day breaks Siegfried and Mime enter, Siegfried wearing
his sword hung in a girdle of rope, and blithely blowing a horn.
Fafner, in the shape of a huge lizardlike dragon, comes out of his
cave and forward to the stream for water. At sight of the non-
chalant youth piping his wood-notes gay, the monster emits a snort
that serves his need of a laugh, — ** I came for drink ; now, too, I
find food."
The conflict is speedily joined. More than once Siegfried is
well-nigh lost; but his chance comes. The dragon exposes his
heart, and Siegfried sinks his sword into it up to the hilt. In
the moment of death, Fafner warns the young hero to beware of
him who stirred him to the fight. But Siegfried pays little heed.
The blood of the dragon bespatters his hand ; it bums. Sieg-
fried involuntarily carries his hand to his lips. There is a wood
bird singing. Siegfried regards him with astonishment. ** Almost,"
he says, ** it seems as wood birds were speaking to me," and he
hearkens.
** Hei ! " sings the wood bird ; ** now Siegfried owns all the
Nibelung*s hoard. Let him but search the cavern, and hoard,
Tamhelm, and Ring will make him the lord of the world ! "
'* Thanks, dearest birdling," Siegfried replies, and possesses him-
self of Tamhelm and Ring. The hoard he leaves where it was.
** Hei ! " sings the wood bird ; '' Ring and Tamhelm Siegfried
has won. Now let him not trust the treacherous tongue of the
falsest of friends ! "
\ 424 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
No sooner is that warning given than Mime, who has mean-
while been wranghng with Alberich over the division of the spoils,
creeps forward.
" See, thou ait weary ; drink of the broth I have brewed, and
take rest," he says smilingly to Siegfried. But under his breath
he is muttering, " Drink, and choke thee to death," as he pours
the draft into the drink horn and offers it.
"Taste thou my sword, loathsome babbler!" cries the young
hero, and strikes him dead at a blow ; then pitches his body on top
of the hoard and stops up the mouth of the cave with the grinning
corpse of the dragon.
"Thanks, friendliest birdiingi But happiness yet have I not.
Brothers and sisters hast thou ; but I ^am so alone ; nor brother
nor sister, nor father nor mother. One comrade had I ; he laid out
to catch me, and now I have slain him, perforce. Ah, birdling, find
: a comrade true ! "
" Hei 1 " chatters the wood bird ; "a glorious bride for Siegfried
have I. On a rocky fastness she sleeps, and guarded by fire is her
home. Who fighteth the flames wakens the maid ; Brunnhilde,
Briinnliilde, he wins for his own ! "
"Where'er thou fliest, follows my foot," shouts Siegfried, bub-
bling with joy.
The scene changes. In a wild spot at the foot of a rocky moun-
tain Wotan, the Wanderer, desiring the success of Siegfried and
still knowing that that success involves the doom of the gods, seeks
counsel from Erda. The all-wise one refuses to answer, — refers
him to the Norns. " The Noms are waking, they wind the rope.
The Noms will give thee answer ! "
"Ah, no!" replies the Wanderer. "Their weaving is ever in
thrall to fate. To thee I come that I may learn how to stay the
wheel that is already rolling."
"Ask Briinnhilde ! "
" In vain, All-wise One ; the piercing sting of care was planted
by thee. Ruin and downfall were foretold by thee. Say to me, now,
how a god may conquer his care ! "
"Thou art — not what thou hast said." No more will Erda
vouchsafe.
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 425
Not what he has said ! Then, surely, the gods are beyond re-
demption. But not even so shall the harvest be reaped by the
Nibelungs. ** Nay, to the Volsung shall be my heritage," decrees
Wotan : ** to him who has known me never, though chosen by
me ; to the lad of dauntless daring, though untaught by my coun-
sel. Pure from greed, gladdened by love-dreams, he has won the
Nibelung's Ring. Against him the curse of Alberich cannot avail."
While yet the Wanderer is speaking, Erda descends to endless
sleep. Dawn illumines the scene. Siegfried*s bird comes fluttering
to the foreground, but, frighted by vision of the god, takes wing and
disappears. Siegfried presses on.
** My birdling has flown from my eyes," he remarks. ** I needs
must find out the rock for myself."
** The way that the wood bird pointed," announces Wotan, en-
countering him, " shalt thou not pass ! "
** Hoho ! Wouldst thou stay me ? Who art thou, then, that here
withstandest ? "
" Fear the felVs defender ! By my might the slumbering maid is
held enchained. He who should wake her, he who should win her,
mightless would make me forever. Go back, then, foolhardy boy ! "
As the Wanderer speaks, the splendor spreads from the flame-
girdled rock above.
** Go back thyself, thou babbler ! There where the fires are blaz-
ing,— to Briinnhilde now must I hie!" And Siegfried pushes
forward.
The Wanderer bars the way to the mountain : **Once already
that sword of thine, Nothung, has broken on the haft of this sacred
spear ! "
" 'T is, then, my father's slayer ! " thinks Siegfried ; and nothing
loath to face that foe, he raises the new-forged sword and strikes
to pieces the All-father's spear !
" Fare on," says Wotan, quietly picking up the fragments, " I
cannot withstand thee."
The god vanishes in darkness. The hero, light-hearted, blowing
his horn, scales the cliffs, passes the fire, — wakes Briinnhilde.
She, at first, with maidenly might struggles against his passion for
her and her growing tenderness for him. She deplores the bymie^
426 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
shield and helm, s)mibols of her godhead, that he has torn from
her. But, mortal now, she surrenders to a mortal's love :
" O Siegfried, Siegfried, child of delight.
Love thyself, — and turn thee from me ;
Oh, bring not thine own to naught ! "
And Siegfried:
"I — love thee : didst thou but love me !
Mine am I no more : oh, would that thou wert mine ! . . .
Waken, O maid ; live in. laughter :
Sweetest delight, be mine, be mine ! "
Then she, with a joyful cry :
" Oh, child of delight ! Oh, glorious hero !
Thou foolish lord of loftiest deeds !
Laughing must I love thee.
Laughing welcome my blindness ;
Laughing let us be lost,
With laughter go down to death. . . .
Farewell, Valhalla^s light-giving world :
Thy stately towers let fall in dust !
Farewell, O glittering pomp of the gods !
Complete your bliss, eternal host !
Now rend, ye Noms, your rope of runes :
Dusk of Gods in darkness arise ;
Night of downfall dawn in mist ! "
And thus, turning their backs on Valhalla, and radiant with the
light of human love, the twain, laughing, face toward death.
288. The Twilight of the Gods. The play opens with a prelude.
By the Valkyrie's rock sit the three Noms and sing of past, pres-
ent, and future, weaving through the night their rope of runes.
As they foretell the burning of Valhalla and the end of the gods,
the rope breaks, and the Noms disappear into the earth.
The sun rises, and in the first act of the play Siegfried and
Briinnhilde enter from their cave. She sends him forth in quest
of heroic adventures in the world, giving him her horse, Giane,
and receiving from him the Ring as a pledge of his love.
The scene changes, and we behold the interior of the Gibi-
chungs' hall on the Rhine. Gunther and Gutrune, his sister, are in
converse with Hagen, their half brother, — dark and treacherous
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 427
son of Grimhilde, their mother, and of Alberich the Nibelung,
erstwhile owner of the Ring. Hagen alone knows, it would seem,
that Siegfried has already ridden through the flames and won
Briinnhilde. The others know merely that that hero has slain
Fafner and is lord of the Tamhelm, hoard, and Ring. Hagen,
anxious to regain the heritage of the Nibelungs, urges marriage
on Gunther, naming Briinnhilde as a fitting bride for him. As,
however, Siegfried alone can pass through the fire to come at her,
he proposes that Gutrune shall win Siegfried's love and induce him
to serve Gunther. Siegfried's horn is heard, and he presently en-
ters and is made welcome. Gutrune, at the instigation of Hagen,
brings Siegfried a potion which causes him to love her, and drives
clean out of his mind all memory of Briinnhilde. In the madness
of his passion for Gutrune, Siegfried swears blood-brotherhood
with Gunther, and promises by the aid of the Tamhelm to make
Briinnhilde Gunther's wife, if only in return Gutrune shall be his.
The newly sworn '' brothers " depart for Briinnhilde's rock.
In the next scene we are again before the home of Briinnhilde.
Waltraute, a Valkyrie, comes to beg Briinnhilde to give back the
Ring to the Rhine-maidens, and so avert the doom of the gods.
What, then, aileth the immortals ? " cries Briinnhilde in alarm.
Since Wotan doomed thee, no more hath he sent us to war," re-
plies Waltraute. ** No more hath he gathered the souls of the slain
about him in Valhalla. Alone he has ridden unceasing through the
world. But, one day, home he came bearing his spear all splintered
in his hand. Wordless, with a sign he bade Valhalla's heroes hew
the world ash tree in pieces and pile it like firewood around the
Hall of the Blest. And from that hour silent he sits on his throne,
about him the awe-struck gods and heroes, the war-maids cowering
at his knees. None tastes the apples of youth. To-day Wotan
remembered thee ; his eye grew soft and, as dreaming, he spake :
' If once more the daughters of Rhine
Should win from her finger the Ring,
Of the load of the curse
Were the world and immortals made free.'
Briinnhilde, yield up the Ring, and end all the grief of the world ! "
428 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
"The Ring ?" wails Briinnhilde. " Knowest thou what 't is to
me ? One flash of its fire outvalues all heaven's deUght ; for the
gleam of that Ring is Siegfried's love I
" From love I never shall turn ;
Of his love they never shall rob me,
Though into ruins
Valhalla's splendor should falll "
Thus Briinnhilde refuses, and sends Waltraute away to take her
defiance to Valhalla,
But retribution is swift, for on the moment Siegfried, changed to
Gunther's shape by the Tamhelm, comes and claims Briinnhilde
as his bride. She resists and threatens him with the Ring. But
now Siegfried, forgetful of the past, struggles for another with his
own dear wife, overcomes her, and wrests the Ring from her. He
then commands her to go into the cave, whither, after drawing his
sword to lay between them as symbol of his loyalty to Gunther, he
follows her.
The second act is outside the Gibichungs' hall. It is early morn-
ing of the next day. After a short scene in which the ever-plotting
Alberich urges Hagen to get the Ring, Siegfried returns and tells
Hagen and Gutrune of the winning of Briinnhilde and her approach
with Gunther. Hagen calls together the vassals to welcome Gunther
and his bride. The royal pair presently arrive and are received with
loud acclaim. Straightway Briinnhilde recognizes Siegfried (who,
however, does not know her) and, seeing the Ring on Siegfried's
finger, she asks Gunther what he has done with the ring he took
from her. His confusion reveals the truth to her, and she proclaims
that she is wedded to Siegfried and not to Gunther. Siegfried
swears on the point of Hagen's spear that her accusation is false.
She repeats it, taking the same oath, Siegfried, Gutrune, and their
vassals go out to prepare for the double wedding celebration ; Gun-
ther, Hagen, and Briinnhilde remaining solemnly condemn Siegfried
to death for what seems treacheiy to one and all. Hagen, left alone,
glories in the prospect of regaining the Ring.
The third act discloses an open place on the banks of the Rhine.
. The three Rhine-maidens pray to the sun for the return of tiie
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG 429
Rhine-gold. Siegfried, who has strayed from his companions on a
hunting expedition, comes to the river bank. The maidens unsuc-
cessfully attempt, by wiles and warnings of ill fate, to get the Ring
from him, and finally swim away, foretelling his death that very day.
Gunther, Hagen, and their vassals come to the place, and all sit
down to rest. At Hagen's suggestion Siegfried relates the story of
his life. But, lo ! when he comes to the episode of his first passage
through the fire, a draft given him by Hagen restores his memory,
and innocentiy he tells of the waking and winning of Briinnhilde.
All start up in amaze ; Hagen stabs Siegfried in the back with his
spear, and steals away. Siegfried falls, and after a few words sung
to Briinnhilde, whom he sees as in a vision, he dies. His body is
placed on a bier and borne away by the vassals with great pomp
and state as the sun sets.
In the last scene we have the* interior of the Gibichungs' hall
as before. It is night. Gutrune comes from her chamber anxious
for Siegfried. Presently Hagen*s voice is heard calling for torches
to light the returning hunters. He enters and, in reply to Gutrune's
questions, tells her that Siegfried has been slain by a wild boar.
Then come the vassals, bearing Siegfried's body. It is placed on a
bier in the center of the hall. Hagen claims the Ring as his right
for slaying Siegfried, but Gunther defies him to touch Gutrune's
heritage. They fight and Gunther falls. As Hagen approaches the
corpse to take the Ring, the dead Siegfried raises his arm threat-
eningly. All start back in horror, and just then Briinnhilde enters
and comes down to the bier. Here, after ordering a pyre to be
built on the river bank, she sings a funeral song over Siegfried.
The body, from which she has taken the Ring, is then placed on
the pyre. Setting the Ring on her own finger, Briinnhilde calls on
the Rhine-maidens to take it in turn from her ashes :
" Let fire, burning this hand
Cleanse, too, the Ring from its curse."
She applies the torch :
" So cast I the brand
On ValhalPs glittering walls. —
When ye see in the kindling fire,
Siegfried and Briinnhild' consumed ;
430 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
When ye see the river-daughters
Bear the Ring away to the deep :
To northward then
Look through the night !
When the heaven there gleams
With a holy glow,
Then know ye all
That ValhalPs end ye behold 1 "
Her horse is brought. She mounts it and springs into the flames,
which flare up and seize on the hall itself. The river overflows
and rolls over the fire. The Rhine-maidens swim up and regain
the Ring. Hagen rushes into the flood to get it from them, but
is dragged down to the depths by their arms as they swim away.
In the sky is seen a vision of Valhalla in flames.
The breed of the gods is gone like breath. The loveless Ring
has worked its curse. Each in his turn its lords have bitten the
dust. And Briinnhilde reads the moral :
" Not goods nor gold
Nor glory of gods
Can fashion a blessing for weal,
Can win a blessing from woe, —
But Love alone ! "
PART II
THE HISTORY OF MYTH
CHAPTER XXX
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH
289. Einds of Myth. If we classify the preceding stories ac-
cording to the reason of their existence, we observe that they are
of two kinds, — explanatory and aesthetic.
(i) Explanatory myths are the outcome of natve guesses at the
truth, of mistaken and superstitious attempts to satisfy the curiosity
of primitive and unenlightened peoples, to unveil the mysteries of
existence, make clear the facts of the universe and the experiences
of life, to account for religious rites and social customs of which
the origin is forgotten, to teach the meaning and the history of
things. There are certain questions that nearly every child and
every savage asks : What is the world and what is man ? Who
made them ? What else did the maker do .? and what the first
men } Whence came the commodities of life ? Why do we cele-
brate certain festivals, practice certain ceremonials, observe solem-
nities, and partake of sacraments, and bow to this or the other god ?
What is death, and what becomes of us after death ? The answers
to such questions crystallized themselves gradually into stories of
the creation, of the gods, and of the heroes — forefathers of men,
but magnified, because unfamiliar, mysterious, and remote.
Old literatures abound in explanatory myths of so highly imagi-
native a character that we modems are tempted to read into them
meanings which probably they never possessed. For the diverse
and contradictory significations that have in recent years been pro-
posed for one and the same myth could not all, at any one time,
have been entertained by the myth-makers. On the other hand,
431
432
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
r
^M the oirrent explanations of certain myths are sufficiendy apparent
^1 to be probable. ""To the ancients," says John Fiske,' " the moon .
^H was not a lifeless body of stones and clods ; it was the homed
^H huntress Artemis, coursing through the upper ether, or bathing
^H herself in the clear lake ; or it was Aphrodite, protectress of lovers,
^H born of the sea foam in the East, near Cyprus. The clouds v
^H not bodies of vaporized water ; they were cows, with swelling ud-
^H ders, driven to the milking by Hermes, the summer wind ; or great
^H sheep with moist fleeces, slain by the unerring arrows of Bellero-
^H phon, the sun; or swan-maidens, flitting across the firmament;
^V Valkyries hovering over the battle field to receive the souls of fall-
ing heroes ; or, again, they were mighty mountains, piled one above
another, in whose cavernous recesses the divining wand of the
storm-god Thor revealed hidden treasures. The yellow-haired sun,
■ Phcebus, drove westerly all day in his flaming cliariot ; or, perhaps,
as Meleager, retired for awhile in disgust from the sight of men ;
wedded at eventide the violet light (CEnone, lole) which he had
forsaken in the morning ; sank as Hercules upon a blazing funeral
pyre, or, like Agamemnon, perished in a bloodstained bath; or,
as the fish-god, Dagon, swam nightly through the subterranean
I waters to appear eastward again at daybreak. Sometimes Pha&-
thon, his rash, inexperienced son, would take the reins and drive-
the solar chariot too near the earth, causing the fruits to perish,
and the grass to wither, and the wells to dry up. Sometimes, too,
the great all-seeing divinity, in his wrath at the impiety of men,
would shoot down his scorching arrows, causing pestilence to spread
over the land."
(2) Esthetic myths have their origin in the universal desire for
amusement, in the revulsion of the mind from the humdrum of
actually. They furnish information that may not be practical, but
is delightful ; they elicit emotion — sympathy, tears, and laughter
— for characters and events remote from our commonplace expe--
rience but close to the heart of things, and near and significant and
enchanting to us in the atmosphere of imagination that embraces
severed continents, inspires the dead with life, bestows color and
breath upon the creatures of a dream, and wraps young and old
' Unbi and Myth-Makera, p, 18. Proper nouni have been angUciied.
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 433
in the wonder of hearing a new thing. The aesthetic myth, first,
removes us from the sordid world of immediate and selfish needs,
and then unrolls a vision of a world where men and things exist
simply for the purpose of delighting us. And the enduring measure
of delight which the aesthetic mydi affords is the test of what we
call its beauty.
A m)rth, whether explanatory or aesthetic, is of unconscious
growth, almost never concocted with a view to instruction.
According to their subjects, aesthetic myths are either historic or
romantic, (a) If historic^ they utilize events which have a skeleton
of fact. They supply flesh and sinew of divine or heroic adventure
and character, blood and breath of probability and imagination. In
historic myths the dependence of gods, heroes, and events upon
the stem necessity of an overruling power, of fate or providence,
is especially to be observed. Of this class is the Iliad of Homer.
if) If romantic^ the myths are characterized by bolder selection
or creation of fundamental events ; indeed, events appear to be
chosen with a view to displaying or developing the character of
the hero. In such myths circumstances are not so important as
what the hero does with circumstances. The hero is more inde-
pendent than in the historic myth ; his liberty, his choice, — in
judgment, in conduct, and in feeling, — his responsibility, are the
center of interest. In romantic myths like the Odyssey this sense
of freedom does not impel the poet to capricious use of his material.
But lesser bards than Homer have permitted their heroes to run
riot in adventures that weaiy the imagination and offend the
moral judgment.
290. Divisions of Inquiry. We are next led to ask how these
myths came into existence, and how it is that the same myth meets
us under various forms in literatures and among peoples widely
separate in time and place. These are questions of the Origin
and Distribution of myths ; and in this chapter we shall discuss
the former.
291. Elements of the Myth. The myths preserved in the litera-
tures of many civilized nations, such as the Greek, present to the
imaginative and the moral sense aspects fraught with contradic-
tion. In certain myths the gods display themselves as beautiful.
r434
wise, ;
ish, ai
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
wise, and beneficent beings ; in others they indulge in cruel, fool-
ish, and unbeautiful practices and adventures. These contradic-
tory elements have been called the reasonable and the senseless.
A myth of Mother Earth (Demeter) mourning the loss of her
daughter, the Springtide, is reasonable ; a myth of Demeter
devouring, in a fit of abstraction, the shoulder of the boy Pelops,
and replacing it with ivory, is capricious, apparently senseless.
"It is this silly, senseless, and savage element," as Max MijUer
says, " that makes mythology the puzzle which men have so long
found it."
292. Reasonable Myths. If myths were always reasonable, it
would not be difficult to reach an agreement concerning some way'
by which they may have come into existence.
Imagination. If we assume that the peoples who invented these
stories of supernatural beings and events had, with due allowance
for the discrepancy in mental development, imaginations like our
own, there is nothing in the history of reasonable myths to baffle
our understanding. For, at the present time, not only children
and simple-minded men, like sailors or mountaineers, but culti-
vated men of ordinary poetic sensibility, bestow attributes of life
upon inanimate things and abstract ideas. The sun is nowadays
thirsty, the ship is a woman, the clouds threaten, charity suffereth
long, the waves are angry, time will tell, and death swallows all
things. The sun still rises, and, as Mr. Jasper maintains, " do
move." By personification we, eveiy day, bestow the attributes of
human beings upon inanimate nature, animals, and abstractions
By our metaphors we perpetuate and diffuse the poetic illusion
we talk not perhaps of the arrows of Apollo, but of a sunstroke ;
our poetry abounds in symbols of the moon, of the swift-wingfed
wind, of the ravening sea. In our metonymies we use the sign
for the thing signified, the crown for the king, the flag for the
honor of the country ; and the crown and the flag are to-day pos-
sessed of attributes and individuality just as efliicient as those that
endowed the golden handmaids of Vulcan or the eagle of Jove,
Nor is hyperbole any less in use among us than it was among the
ancients ; we glorify our pohtical heroes with superlatives, thqr
dignified theirs with divinity.
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 435
Belief. But this resemblance in habits of imagination, while
it may help us to appreciate the mental condition of primitive
peoples, accentuates the distinction between our imagination and
theirs. They, at some time or other, believed in these personifica-
tions. We do not believe. But their belief is easier to comprehend
when we remember that the myths of savages are not a deliberate
invention of any one individual, but are constructed by generations
of people, and that many of them cluster about beings who were
actually worshiped. Among primitive nations the sense of awe in
the presence of magnificent objects of nature — mountains, the
sky, the sun, the sea — is universal. It springs from the fact that
savages do not deem themselves superior to nature. They are not
conscious of souls whose flight is higher than that of nature. On
the contrary, since sun, sea, and winds move, the savage invests
them with free will and personality like man's. In proportion, how-
ever, as their size is grander or their movement more tremendous,
these objects must be possessed of freedom, personality, and power
exceeding those of man. Why, then, should not the savage believe,
of beings worthy of worship and fear and gratitude, all and more
than all that is accredited to man } Why not confer upon them
human and superhuman passions and powers t If we were living,
like the Greek of old, close to the heart of nature, such personifica-
tion of natural powers would be more easy for us to appreciate.
" If for us also, as for the Greek," says Ruskin,^ **the sunrise
means daily restoration to the sense of passionate gladness and
of perfect life — if it means the thrilling of new strength through
every nerve, — the shedding over us of a better peace than the
peace of night, in the power of the dawn, — and the purging of
evil vision and fear by the baptism of its dew ; — if the sun itself
is an influence, to us also, of spiritual good, — and becomes thus
in reality, not in imagination, to us also, a spiritual power, — we
may then soon overpass the narrow limit of conception which kept
that power impersonal, and rise with the Greek to the thought of
an angel who rejoiced as a strong man to run his course, whose
voice, calling to life and to labor, rang round the earth, and whose
going forth was to the ends of heaven."
1 Rusldn, Queen of the Air.
436
THE CLASSIC MVTHS
Regarding thus the religious condition of the savage, we may
comprehend the existence of myths and his acceptance of them.
293. Unreasonable Myths. But he would maintain this attitude
of acceptance only in the matter of good and beneficent gods and.
of righteous or reasonable myths.
For how could a human being believe of the god whom he^
worshiped and revered, deeds and attributes more silly and more-
shameful than man can conceive of his fellow man ? When, there-
fore, we find senseless and shameless myths existing side by side
with stories of the justice and righteousness of the same god, we-
must conclude that, since the worshiper could not beheve both
sets of attributes, he preserved his rehgious attitude before the
good god only by virtue of rejecting the senseless myth.
A man's religious belief would assist him to entertain only the
reasonable myths. How, then, did the senseless and cruel storie»
come into existence ? And were they ever believed ?
There are many answers to these questions. They may, however,
be classified according to the theory of civilization that they assume.
According to the Theory of Deterioration, or Human Depravity,
man, although he had in the beginning knowledge of common
facts, pure moral and religious ideas, and true poetic concept,
tions, has forgotten, with the lapse of time, the significance of
words, facts, men, and events, adopted corrupt moral and religious
notions, and given license to the diseased imagining of untrue and
unlovely conceptions.
According to the Theory of Improvement, or Progress, mat^
beginning with crude dreams and fancies about experience, lif^
the world, and God, has gradually developed truer and highw
conceptions of his own nature, of his relation to the world about
him, of duty, of art, and of religion.
294. Theory of Deterioration. Let us consider first the inte
pretations of mythology that assume a backward tendency tn eai^
civilization. They are :
(i) The Historical, or better called after its author, Euhemerui
(B.C. 316), the Euhemeristic. This explanation assun
myths of the gods are exaggerated adventures of historic i
viduals, chieftains, medicine men, heroes; and that supematu
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 437
events are distortions of natural but wonderful occurrences. In
fact, it attributes to our forefathers a disease of the memory which
prompted them to pervert facts. Jupiter, Odin, and Hercules were
accordingly men who, after death, had been glorified, then deified,
then invested with numerous characteristics and adventures appro-
priate to their exalted conditions of existence.
The custom of worshiping ancestors, still existent in China and
other countries, is adduced in support of this method of investigat-
ing myths, and it is undoubtedly true that the method explains the
origin and growth of some myths. But it accounts rather for the
reasonable than the senseless element of mythical adventure, while
it fails to show how savages come to exaggerate their heroes into
beings entirely out of the realm of that actual experience which
is the basis of the historical assumption.
(2) The Philological Interpretation ^ assumes also a disease of
the memory by reason of which men misunderstand and confuse
the meanings of words, and misapply the words themselves. Pro-
fessor Max Miiller calls this affection a disease of language. In
ancient languages every such word as day^ nighty earthy sun, spring,
dawn, had an ending expressive of gender, which naturally pro-
duced the corresponding idea of sex. These objects accordingly
became in the process of generations not only persons, but male
and female. As, also, the phrases expressing the existence or the
activity of these natural objects lost their ancient signification
under new colloquial coloring, primitive and simple statements of
natural events acquired the garb and dignity of elaborate and often
incongruous narratives, no longer about natural events, but about
persons. Ancient language may, for instance, have said sunrise
follows the dawn. The word for sun was masculine ; the word for
dawn, feminine. In time the sentence came to mean, Apollo, the
god of the sun, chases Daphne, the maiden of the glowing dawn.
But the word. Daphne, meant also a laurel that burned easily,
hence might readily be devoted to the god of the sun. So Daphne,
the maiden, assuming the form of Daphne, the laurel, escaped tlie
1 See Max MUIIer's Chips from a German Workshop, Science of Religion, etc. ; Cox's
Aryan Myths, and numerous articles by die learned authors of Roscher's Ausfiihrliches
Lexikon.
■ 438 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
pursuit of her ardent lover, by becoming the tree sacred to his
worship.^ The merit of the philological method is, that, tracing
the name of a mythical character through kindred languages, it
frequently ascertains for us the family of the myth, brings to light
kindred fonns of the myth, discovers in what language the name
was bom, and sometimes, giving us the original meaning of the
divine name, "throws light on the legend of the bearer of the
name and on its origin and first home.""
But unfortunately there is very often no agreement among
scholars about the original meaning of the names of mythical
beings. The same name is frequently explained in half a dozen
different ways. The same deity is reduced by different interpreters
to half a dozen elements of nature, A certain goddess represents
now the upper air, now light, now lightning, and yet again clouds.
Naturally the attempts at construing her adventures must termi-
nate in correspondingly dissimilar and unconvincing results. In
fine, the philological explanation assumes as its starting point mas-
culine and feminine names for objects of nature. It does not
attempt to show how an object like the ocean came to be male
and not female, or how it came to be a person at all. And this
latter, in studying the origin of myths, is what should first be as-
certained. We must not, however, fall into the error of supposing
that the philologists look for the origin and growth of all myths
in words and the diseases of words. Max Mulier grants that myth-
ology does not always create its own heroes, but sometimes lays
hold of real history. He insists that mythologists should bear in
mind that there may be in every mythological riddle elements
which resist etymological analysis, for the simple reason that their
origin was not etymological, but historical.
(3) The Allegorical Interpretation is akin to the philological in
its results. It leads us to explain myths as embodiments in sym-
bolic guise of hidden meaning ; of physical, chemical, or astronom-
ical facts; or of moral, religious, philosophical truth. The stories
would at first exist as allegories, but in process of time would
> Mm MiiJIcr, Essay on Comparative Mythology, Oiford Euaya, iS;6 ; Science of ReH-
gion, 1. 548 n.
Religion, i, ai-as, and Prolessor C. P, Ticlc, w died
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 439
come to be understood literally. Thus Cronus, who devours his
own children, is identified with the power that the Greeks called
Chronos (Time), which may truly be said to destroy whatever it
has brought into existence. The story of lo is interpreted in a
similar manner. lo is the moon, and Argus the starry sky, which,
as it were, keeps sleepless watch over her. The fabulous wander-
ings of lo represent the continual revolutions of the moon. This
method of explanation rests upon the assumption that the men
who made the allegories were proficient in physics, chemistry,
astronomy, etc., and clever in allegory; but that, for some un-
known reason, their descendants becoming stupid, knowledge as
well as wit deserted the race. In some cases the myth was, with-
out doubt, from the first an allegory; but where the myth was
consciously fashioned as an allegory, in all probability it was pre-
served as such. It is not, however, likely that allegories of deep
scientific or philosophical import were invented by savages. Where
the myth has every mark of great antiquity, — is especially silly
and senseless and savage, — it is safe to believe that any profound
allegorical meaning, read into it, is the work of men of a later
generation, who thus attempted to make reasonable the divine and
heroic narratives which they could not otherwise justify and of
whose existence they were ashamed. We find, moreover, in some
cases a great variety of symbolic explanations of the same m)rth,
one with as great claim to credence as another, since they spring
from the same source, — the caprice or fancy of the expounder.
Among the ancients Theagenes of Rhegium, six hundred years
before Christ, suggested the allegorical theory and method of
interpretation. In modem times he has been supported by Lord
Bacon, whose ** Wisdom of the Ancients " treats myths as ** elegant
and instructive fables," and by many Germans, especially Professor
Creuzer.
(4) The Theological Interpretation, This premises that man-
kind, either in general or through some chosen nationality, received
from God an original revelation of pure religious ideas, and that,
with the systematic and continued perversion of the moral sense,
this knowledge of truth, morality, and spiritual religion fell into
corruption. So in Greek mythology the attributes of the various
^V 440 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^H gods would be imperfect irradiations of the attributes of the one
^H God. A more limited conception is, that all mythological legends
^H are derived from the narratives of Scripture, though the real facts
^H have been disguised and altered. Thus, Deucalion is only another
^H name for Noah, Hercules for Samson, Arion for Jonah, etc. Sir
^H Walter Raleigh, in his "History of the World," says, "Jubal,
^H Tubal, and Tubal-Cain were Mercury, Vulcan, and Apollo, inven-
^1 tors of pasturage, smithing, and music. The dragon which kept
^H the golden apples was the serpent that beguiled Eve. Nirarod's
^H tower was the attempt of the giants against heaven." There are
^V doubtless many curious coincidences like these, but the theory
cannot, without extravagance, be pushed so far as to account for
any great proportion of the stories. For many myths antedate the
scriptural narratives of which they are said to be copies ; many
tmore, though resembling the scriptural stories, originated among
peoples ignorant of the Hebrew Bible. The theory rests upon two
unproved assumptions : one, that all nations have had a chance to
be influenced by the same set of religious doctrines ; the other,
that God made his revelation in the beginning once for ail, and
has done nothing to help man toward righteousness since then.
The theological theory has been advocated by Voss and other
Germans in the seventeenth century, by Jacob Bryant in 1774,
and in this century most ably by Gladstone.'
295, We are now ready for the explanation of myth-making
based upon the Theory of Progress. This is best stated by Mr.
Andrew Lang,^ whose argument is, when possible, given in his
own language. To the question how the senseless element got into
myths, the advocates of this theory answer that it was in the minds
and in the social condition of the savages who invented the myths.
But since we cannot put ourselves back in history thousands of
years to examine the habits of thought and life of early savages,
we are constrained to examine whether anywhere nowadays there
may exist " any stage of the human intellect in which these divine
1 W. E. Gladstone. Homer and the Komeiic Age Juventua Mundi ; The Olympiia
KeliKion, North AmtTvan finim, Feb^Msy, iH(|3.
■ Andrew Lang, Mylh, Ritual, and Religion, > vob., l-ondDn, 1887 ; and Encyc Briiq ^Ih
ed, irticle. Mythelegy. MBunhardi, Antike Wald- und Feldkulun, Berlin, 1S77. E. B. Tylor,
Anthropology; Primilive Culture.
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 441
adventures and changes of men into animals, trees, stars, this belief
m seeing and talking with the dead, are regarded as possible inci-
dents of daily human life." As the result of such scientific investi-
gation, numerous races of savages have been found who at this
present day accept and believe just such silly and senseless elements
of myth as puzzle us and have puzzled many of the cultivated
ancients who found them in their inherited mythologies. The
theory of development is, then, that ** the savage and senseless
element in mythology is, for the most part, a legacy from ancestors
of civilized races who, at the time that they invented the senseless
stories, were in an intellectual state not higher than that of our
contemporary Australians, Bushmen, Red Indians, the lower races
of South America, and other worse than barbaric people of the
nineteenth century." But what are the characteristics of the men-
tal state of our contemporary savages ? First and foremost, curi-
osity that leads them to inquire into the causes of things ; and
second, credulity that impels them to invent or to accept childish
stories that may satisfy their untutored experience. We find, more-
over, that savages nowadays think of everything around them as
having life and the parts and passions of persons like themselves.
" The sky, sun, wind, sea, earth, mountains, trees, regarded as
persons, are mixed up with men, beasts, stars, and stones on the
same level of personality and life." The forces of nature, animals,
and things have for these Polynesians and Bushmen the same
powers and attributes that men have ; and in their opinion men
have the following attributes :
** I. Relationship to animals and ability to be transformed, and
to transform others, into animals and other objects.
** 2. Magical accomplishments, such as power to call up ghosts,
or to visit ghosts and the region of the dead ; power over the
seasons, the sun, moon, stars, weather, and so forth." ^
The stories of savages to-day abound in adventures based upon
qualities and incidents like these. If these stories should survive in
the literature of these nations after the nations have been civilized,
they would appear senseless and silly and cruel to the descendants
of our contemporary savages. In like manner, **as the ancient
1 Encyc. Brit., Mythology,
; 442 THE CLASSIC MVTHS
I
^H Greeks, Egyptians, and Norsemen advanced in civilization, their
^H religious thought and artistic taste were shocked by myths which
^V were preserved by local priesthoods, or in ancient poems, or in
^u popular religious ceremonials. , . . Wc may believe that ancient
^R , and early tribes framed gods like themselves in action and in
experience, and that the allegorical element in myths is the addi-
tion of later peoples who had attained to purer ideas of divinity,
yet dared not reject the religion of their ancestors." ' The sense-
Iless element in the myths would, by this theory, be, for the most
part, a "survival." Instead, then, of deteriorating, the races that
invented senseless myths are, with ups and downs of civilization,
intellectually and morally improved, to such extent that they desire
to repudiate the senseless element in their mythical and religious
traditions, or to explain it as reasonable by way of allegory. This
method of research depends upon the science of mind — psychol-
ogy, and the science of man — anthropology. It may be called
the Anthropological Method. The theory is that of " survival."
According to this theory many of the puzzling elements of myth
resolve themselves into survivals of primitive philosophy, science,
or history. From the first proceed the cruder systems of physical
and spiritual evolution, the generations of gods and the other-world
of ghosts ; from the second, the cruder attempts at explaining the
phenomena of the natural and animal world by endowing them
with human and frequently magical powers ; from the third, the
narratives invented to account for the sanctity of certain shrines
and rituals, and for tribal customs and ceremonials, the origin of
^H which had been forgotten. These last are known as miiological
^B myths ; they pretend to assign the aitia, or reason, why Delphi,
^H for instance, should have the oracle of Apollo, or why the ritual of
^H Demeter should be celebrated at Eleusis and in a certain dramatic
^K manner.
^K It is of course probable that occasionally the questionable ele-
^B ment of the myth originated in germs other than savage curiosity
^1 and credulity : for Instance, in the adventures of some great hero,
^K or in a disease of language by which statements about objects came
^^W to be understood as stories about persons, or perhaps in a conscious
^^^B > Chr. A. I«beck, Aglaophuniu : On the Cauaca of Greek Mythology. Cited by Lang^
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 443
allegory, or, even, in the perversion of some ancient purer form of
moral or religious truth. But, in general, the root of myth-making
is to be found in the mental and social condition of primitive man,
the confused personality that he extended to his surroundings, and
the belief in magical powers that he conferred upon those of his
tribesmen who were shrewdest and most influential. This mental
condition of the myth-maker should be premised in all scientific
explanations of myth-making.
The transition is easy from the personification of the elements
of nature and the acceptance of fictitious history to the notion of
supernatural beings presiding over, and governing, the different
objects of nature — air, fire, water, the sun, moon, and stars, the
mountains, forests, and streams — or possessing marvelous quali-
ties of action, passion, virtue, foresight, spirituality, and vice.
The Greeks, whose imagination was lively, peopled all nature with
such invisible inhabitants and powers. In Greece, says Wordsworth,^
In that fair clime the lonely herdsman, stretched
On the soft grass through half a summer's day,
With music lulled his indolent repose :
And, in some fit of weariness, if he,
When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear
A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds
Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched,
Even from the blazing chariot of the sun,
A beardless Youth, who touched a golden lute,
And filled the illumined groves with ravishment.
The nightly hunter, lifting a bright eye
Up towards the crescent moon, with grateful heart
Called on the lovely wanderer who bestowed
That timely light, to share his joyous sport :
And hence, a beaming Goddess with her Nymphs,
Across the lawn and through the darksome grove.
Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes
By echo multiplied from rock or cave.
Swept in the storm of chase ; as moon and stars
Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven.
When winds are blowing strong. The traveler slaked
His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked
1 Excursion, Bk. 4.
I
1,44 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon disCHnt hills
Gliding apace, wkh shadows in their train.
Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed
Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly.
The Zephyrs, fanning, as they passed, their wings,
Lacked not, for love, fair objects whom they wooed
With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque.
Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age.
From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth
In the low vale, or on steep mountain side ;
And, sometimes, intermixed with stirring horns
Of the live deer, or goat's dependirig beard, —
These were the lurking Satyrs, a wild brood
Of gamesome deities ; or Pan himself,
The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring God.
The phases of significance and beauty through which the physi-
cal or natural myth may develop are expressed with poetic grace
by Ruskin, in his " Queen of the Air." • The reader must, however,
guard against the supposition that any myth has sprung into exist-
ence fully equipped with physical, religious, and moral import.
Ruskin himselt says, " To the mean person the myth always meant
little ; to the noble person, much." Accordingly, as we know, to
the savage the myth was savage ; to the devotee it became reli-
gious ; to the artist, beautiful ; to the philosopher, recondite and
significant ^ in the course of centuries.
" If we seek," says Ruskin, " to ascertain the manner in which
the story first crystallized into its shape, we shall find ourselves
led back generally to one or other of two sources — cither to actual
historical events, represented by the fancy under figures personify-
ing them, or else to natural phenomena similarly endowed with life
by the imaginative power, usually more or less under the influence
of terror. The historical myths we must leave the masters ot
history to follow ; they, and the events they record, being yet in-
volved in great, though attractive and penetrable, mystery. But
the stars and hills and storms are with us now, as they were with
others of old ; and it only needs that we look at them with the
Concerning which may be accepted the verdict that Mi. Ruikin paiK* upon Payne
Knight'i Symbolical Language of Ancient Art, " Not tmsiworthy, being little more thui ■
ijcclutil memotuida ; bul (lie heap in auggeslive, if well Bifted,"
THE ORIGIN AND ELEMENTS OF MYTH 445
earnestness of those childish eyes to understand the first words
spoken of them by the children of men. And then, in all the
most beautiful and enduring myths, we shall find not only a literal
story of a real person — not only a parallel imagery of moral prin-
ciple — but an underlying worship of natural phenomena, out of
which both have sprung, and in which both forever remain rooted.
Thus, from the real sun, rising and setting ; from the real atmos-
phere, calm in its dominion of unfading blue and fierce in its
descent of tempest — the Greek forms first the idea of two entirely
personal and corporeal gods (Apollo and Athena), whose limbs are
clothed in divine flesh, and whose brows are crowned with divine
beauty ; yet so real that the quiver rattles at their shoulder, and
the chariot bends beneath their weight. And, on the other hand,
collaterally with these corporeal images, and never for one instant
separated from them, he conceives also two omnipresent spiritual
influences, of which one illuminates, as the sun, with a constant
fire, whatever in humanity is skillful and wise ; and the other, like
the living air, breathes the calm of heavenly fortitude and strength
of righteous anger into every human breast that is pure and brave.
** Now, therefore, in nearly every [natural] myth of importance,
. . . you have to discern these three structural parts — the root
and the two branches. The root, in physical existence, sun, or sky,
or cloud, or sea ; then the personal incarnation of that, becoming
a trusted and companionable deity, with whom you may walk hand
in hand, as a child with its brother or its sister ; and lastly, the
moral significance of the image, which is in all the great myths
eternally and beneficently true.*'
What Ruskin calls, above, the historical myth may be the euhe-
meristic transformation of real events and personages, as of a flood
and those concerned in it ; or it may be the aetiological invention
of a story to account for rituals of which the origin has been for-
gotten, as of the Dionysiac revels, with their teaching of liberation
from the sordid limits of mortality. In either case, especially the
latter, the imaginative and moral significance of the historical myth
has in general developed with the advance of civilization.
Myth, in fine, whether natural, historical, or spiritual, ** is not to
be regarded as mere error and folly, but as an interesting product
446 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of the human mind. It is sham history, the fictitious narrative of
events that never happened." ^ But that is not the full statement of
the case. Myth is also actual history of early and imperfect stages
of thought and belief ; it is the true narrative of unenlightened
observation, of infantine gropings after truth. Whatever reserva-
tions scholars may make on other points, most of them will concur
in these : that some m)rths came into existence by a " disease of
language '* ; that some were invented to explain names of nations
and of places, and some to explain the existence of fossils and bones
that suggested prehistoric animals and men ; that many were in-
vented to gratify the ancestral pride of chieftains and clans and
to justify the existence of religious and tribal ceremonials, and
the common cult of departed souls, and that very many obtained
consistency and form as explanations of the phenomena of nature,
as expressions of the reverence felt for the powers of nature, and
as personifications, in general, of the passions and the ideals of
primitive mankind.^
1 E. B. Tylor, Anthropology, p. 387. New York, 1881.
2 See also L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i, 19. Max Miiller, Comparative Mythology.
Oxford Essays, 1856, pp. 1-87 ; also Science of Religion, 1873, PP* 335-403 » Philosophy oi
Mythology; and Science of Language, 7th ed., 2, 421-571. Hermann Paul, Grundriss der
Germanischen Philologie, Bd. i, Lfg. 5, 982-995, Mythologie (von E. Mogk). W. Y. Sel-
lar, Augustan Poets. Louis Dyer, Studies of the Gods in Greece. Talfourd Ely, Olympus.
A. H. Petiscus, The Gods of Oljrmpus (translated by Katherine A. Raleigh). E, Rohde,
Psyche. B. L Wheeler, Dionysos and Immortality.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS
296. Theories of Resemblance. Several theories of the appear-
ance of the same explanatory or aesthetic myth under various
guises, in lands remote one from another, have been advanced;
but none of them fully unveils the mystery. The difficulty lies
not so much in accounting for the similarity of thought or material
in different stories, as for the resemblance in isolated incidents and
in the arrangement of incidents or plot. The principal theories
of the distribution of myths are as follows :
(i) That the resemblances between the myths of different nations
are purely accidental. This theory leaves us no wiser than we were.
(2) That the stories have been borrowed by one nation from
another. This will account for exchange only between nations
historically acquainted with each other. It will not account for
the existence of the same arrangement of incidents in a Greek
myth and in a Polynesian romance.
(3) That all myths, if traced chronologically backward and
geographically from land to land, will be found to have originated
in India)- This theory fails to account for numerous stories cur-
rent among the modem nationalities of Europe, of Africa, and of
India itself. It leaves also unexplained the existence of certain
m)i:hs in Egypt many centuries before India had any known his-
tory: such as, in all probability, the Egyptian myth of Osiris.
The theory, therefore, is open to the objection made to the theory
of borrowing.
(4) That similar myths are based upon hisrtorical traditions
similar in various countries or inherited from some mother coun-
try. But, although some historical myths may have descended from
a mother race, it has already been demonstrated (§ 294, (i)) that
1 Benfey and Cosquin. See Lang's Myth, Ritual, and Religion, 2, 299.
4A7
, 448 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
f
^^1 the historical (eiitiemeristic) hypothesis is inadequate. It is, more-
^H over, not Ulcely that many historical incidents, like those related
^^M in the IHad and the Odyssey, happened in the same order and
^^1 as actual history in Asia Minor, Ithaca, Persia, and Norway. But
^H we find myths containing such incidents in al! these countries.'
^H (5) That the Aryan tribes (from which the Indians, Persians,
^H Phrygians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, Norsemen, Russians, and
^B Celts are descended) "started from a common center" in the
highlands of Northern India, " and that from their ancient home
they must have carried away, if not the developed myth, yet the
quickening germ from which might spring leaves and fruits, vary-
Iing in form and hue according to the soil to which it should be
committed and the climate under which the plant might reach
maturity."^ Against this theory it may be urged that stories hav-
ing only the undeveloped germ or idea in common would not,
vrith any probability, after they had been developed independently
of each other, possess the remarkable resemblance in details that
many widely separated myths display. Moreover, the assumption
of this common stock considers only Aryan tribes : it ignores
Africans, Mongolians, American Indians, and other peoples whose
^m myths resemble the Aryan, but are not traceable to the same orig-
^H inal germ. The Aryan germ-theory has, however, the merit of
^H explaining resemblances between many myths of different Aryan
^H nations.
^H (6) That the existence of similar incidents or situations is to be
^H explained as resulting from the common facts of human thought,
^H experience, and sentiment. This may be called the psyckohgical
^H theory. It was entertained by Grimm, and goes hand in hand
^H with the anthropological, or " survivalist, " explanation of the ele-
^H ments of myth, " In the long history of mankind," says Mr.
^H Andrew Lang, " it is impossible to deny that stories may con-
^H ceivably have spread from a single center, and been handed on
^H from races like the Indo-European and Semitic to races as far
^H removed from them in every way as the Zulus, the Australians,
^V 1 Lang, Myth, KituBl, and Religion, i, jos ; Cox, Mythology of the Aiyan Nsdoni, i, toa.
^V > The Kev. Sir G. W. Cox. Mythology o{ Aryan Nations, r, 99 ; also, vune iheocy, Mu
^^^ UUttei'i Chips from « CemuD Worluhop ; Anilrew Lang, Mytli, Ritual, and Religion, 1, J97,
s^
THE DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS 449
the Eskimos, the natives of the South Sea Islands. But while the
possibility of the diffusion of myths by borrowing and transmission
must be allowed for, the hypothesis of the origin of myths in the
savage state of the intellect supplies a ready explanation of their
wide diffusion." Many products of early art — clay bowls and
stone weapons — are peculiar to no one national taste or skill,
they are what might have been expected of human conditions
and intelligence. **Many myths may be called * human' in this
sense. They are the rough product of the early human mind, and
are not yet characterized by the differentiations of race and cul-
ture. Such myths might spring up anywhere among untutored
men, and anywhere might survive into civilized literature." ^
The distribution of myth, like its origin, is inexplicable by any
one theory. The discovery of racial families and of family tradi-
tions narrows the problem, but does not solve it. The existence of
the same story in unrelated nationalities remains a perplexing fact,
towards the explanation of which the theories of '* borrowing " and
of ** similar historic tradition," while plausible, are but unsubstanti-
ated contributions. And until we pos3ess the earliest records of
those unrelated nationalities that have similar myths, or until we
discover monuments and log books of some commercial nation that
in prehistoric times circumnavigated the globe and deposited on
remote shores and islands the seeds of the parent mythic plant, we
must accept as our only scientific explanation the psychological, or
so-called human^ theory : — Given similar mental condition with
similar surroundings, similar imaginative products, called myths,
will result.2
1 Encyc. Brit., 9th ed. Article, Mythology. Cf. Tylor*s Primitive Culture, i, 369 ; Tyler's
Anthropology, p. 397.
2 See T. C. Johnston's Did the Phoenicians Discover America ? 1892.
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS
, Traditional History. Before the introduction of writing,
myths were preserved in popular traditions, in the sacred ceremo-
nials of colleges of priests, in the narratives chanted by families of
minstrels or by professional bards wandering from village to village
or from court to court, and in occasional hymns sung by privileged
harpists, like Demodocus of Phseacia,' in honor of a chieftain, an
ancestor, or a god. Many of these early bards are mere names to
us. Most of them are probably as mythical as the songs with which
they are accredited. The following is a -brief account of mythical
prophets, of mythical musicians and poets, and of the actual poets
and historians who recorded the mythologies from which English
literature draws its classical myths, — the Greek, the Roman, the
Norse, and the German.
298. In Greece, (i) Mythical Prophets. To some of the oldest
bards was attributed the gift of prophecy. Indeed, nearly every
expedition of mythology was accompanied by one of these seers,
priests, or " medicine men," as we might call them,
Melampus was the first Greek said to be endowed with prophetic
powers. Before his house there stood an oak tree containing a
pent's nest. The old serpents were killed by the slaves, but Me-
lampus saved the young ones. One day when he was asleep under the
oak, the serpents licked his ears with their tongues, enabling him to
understand the language of birds and creeping things.^ At one time
his enemies seized and imprisoned him. But Melampus, in the silence
of the night, heard from the woodworms in the timbers that the sup-
ports of the house were nearly eaten through and the roof would
soon fall in. He told his captors. They took his warning, escaped
destruction, rewarded the prophet, and held him in high honor.
1 Odysaej- 8, IJn.
' Cf. Ihe eipericnee of Sigurd,
K^
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 451
Other famous soothsayers were Amphiaraiis, who took part in
the War of the Seven against Thebes ; Calchas, who accompanied
the Greeks during the Trojan War; Helenus and Cassandra, of
King Priam's family, who prophesied for the Trojan forces ; Tire-
sias, the blind prophet of Thebes ; and Mopsus, who attended the
Argonauts. The stories of these expeditions are given in preceding
chapters.
(2) Mythical Mtisicians and Poets, Since the poets of antiquity
sang their stories or hymns to an accompaniment of their own upon
the harp or lyre, they were skilled in the art of music as well as in
that of verse.
Orpheus y whose adventures have been narrated, passes in tradi-
tion for the oldest of Greek lyrists, and the special favorite, even
the son, of the god Apollo, patron of musicians. This Thracian
bard is said to have taught mysterious truths concerning the origin
of things and the immortality of the soul. But the fragments of
Orphic hymns which are attributed to him are probably the work
of philosophers of a much later period in Greek literature.
Another Thracian bard, Thamyris, is said in his presumption to
have challenged the Muses to a trial of skill. Conquered in the con-
test, he was deprived of his sight. To Musceus, the son of Orpheus,
was attributed a hymn on the Eleusinian mysteries, and other sacred
poems and oracles. Milton couples his name with that of Orpheus :
But, O sad Virgin ! that thy power
Might raise Musaeus from his bower,
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did seek.^
Other legendary bards or musicians were Linus, Marsyas, and
Amphion.
(3) The Poets of Mythology, Homer, from whose poems of the
Iliad and Odyssey we have taken the chief part of our chapters on
the Trojan War and the return of the Grecians, is almost as mythi-
cal a personage as the heroes he celebrates. The traditionary story
is that he was a wandering minstrel, blind and old, who traveled
1 n Penseroso, IL 103-108.
452
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
from place to plate singing his lays to the music of his harp, in the
courts of princes or the cottages of peasants, — a dependent upon
the voluntary offerings of his hearers. Byron calls him " the blind
old man of Scio's rocky isle " ; and a well-known epigram, alluding
to the uncertainty of the fact of his birthplace, runs :
Seven wealthy towns contend for Homei' dead,
Through which the living Homer begged his bread.
These seven places were Smyrna, Chios (now Scio), Colophon^
Ithaca, Pyios, Argos, and Athens.
Modern scholars have doubted whether the Homeric poems a
the work of any single mind. This uncertainty arises, in part, from
the difficulty of believing that poems of such length could have
been committed to writing in the age usually assigned to these,:
when materials capable of transmitting long productions were not
yet in use. On the other hand, it is asked how poems of such
length could have been handed down from age to age by means of
the memory alone. This question is answered by the statement
that there was a professional body of men whose business it was to
commit to memory and rehearse for pay the national and patriotic
legends.
Pisistratus of Athens ordered a commission of scholars (about
537 B.C.) to collect and revise the Homeric poems ; and it is prob-
able that at that time certain passages of the Iliad and Odyssey, as
we now have them, were interpolated. Beside the Iliad and the
Odyssey, many other epics passed in antiquity under Homer's
name. The so-called Homeric Hymns to the gods, which were conv
posed by various poets after the death of Homer, are a source
of valuable information concerning the attributes of the divinities
addressed.
The dale assigned to Homer, on the authority of Herodotus, i
850 B.C. T!ie preservation and further fashioning of myths fell, after
Homer's lime, into the hands of the Rhapsodists, wlio chanted epic
songs, and of the Cyclic poets, who elaborated into various epic dr^
des, or completed wholes, neglected traditions of the Trojan War.
Among these cyclic poems were the Cyprian Lays, which related
the beginnings of the Trojan War and the first nine years of tl
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 453
siege, thus leading up to the Iliad ; the iEthiopis, which continued
the Iliad and told of the death of Achilles ; the Little Iliad and the
Iliupersis, which narrated the fall of Troy and magnified the exploits
of Ajax and Philoctetes; and the Nostoi, or Home-Comings, which
told the adventures of various Greek heroes during the period of
ten years between the end of the Iliad and the beginning of the
Odyssey. Most of these poems were once attributed to Homer.
They are all lost, but the names of some of their authors survive.
There was also a cycle which told of the two wars against Thebes.
Hesiod is, like Homer, one of the most important sources of our
knowledge of Greek mythology. He is thought by some to have
been a contemporary of Homer, but concerning the relative dates
of the two poets there is no certainty. Hesiod was bom in Ascra
in Boeotia ; he spent his youth as a shepherd on Mount Helicon,
his manhood in the neighborhood of Corinth, and wrote two great
poems, the Works and Days, and the Theogony, or Genealogy of
the Gods. From the former we obtain a connected account of Greek
traditions concerning the primitive commodities of life, the arts of
agriculture and navigation, the sacred calendar, and the various pre-
historic ages. From the latter poem we learn the Greek mythology
of the creation of the world, the family of the gods, their wars,
and their attitude toward primeval man. While Hesiod may have
composed his works at a somewhat later period than Homer, it is
noteworthy that his stories of the gods have more of the savage
or senseless element than those attributed to Homer. The artist,
or artists, of the Iliad and the Odyssey seem to have refined the
stories into poetic gold ; Hesiod has gathered them in the ore,
like so many specimens for a museum.
A company of Lyric Poets, of whom Stesichorus (620 B.C.),
Alcaeus (611 b.c), Sappho (610 e.g.), Arion (600 e.g.), Simonides
of Ceos (556 E.G.), Ibycus (540 e.g.), Anacreon (530 e.g.), and
Pindar (522 e.g.) are the most prominent, have contributed much
to our knowledge of mythology. They have left us hymns to the
gods, references to mythical heroes, and accounts of more or less
pathetic legendary adventures.
Of the works of Sappho few fragments remain, but they estab*-
lish her claim to eminent poetical genius. Her story is frequently
454
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
alluded to. Being passionately in love with a beautiful youth
named Phaon, and failing to obtain a return of affection, she is
said to have thrown herself from the promontory of Leucadia
into the sea, under a superstition that those who should take
that " Lover's Leap " would, if not destroyed, be cured of their
love.
Of Arion the greatest work was a dithyramb or choral hymn tO'
the god of wine. It is said that his music and song were of such
sweetness as to charm the monsters of the sea ; and that when
thrown overboard on one occasion by avaricious seam
borne safely to land by an admiring dolphin. Spenser represents
Arion, mounted on his dolphin, accompanying the train of Nep-
tune and Amphitrite :
Then waa there heard a most celestial sound
Of dainty music, which did next ensue
Before the spouse : that was Arion crowned
Who, playing on his harp, unto him drew
The ears and hearts of all that goodly crew ;
That even yet the dolphin which him bore
Through the JE.gean seas from pirates' view,
Stood still by him astanished at his lore,
And all the raging seas for joy forgot to roar.'
Simonides was one of the most prolific of the early poti£ c
Greece, but only a few fragments of his compositions have di
scended to us. He wrote hymns, triumphal odes, and elegies, ]
and in the last species of composition he particularly excelled. J
His genius was inclined to the pathetic; none could touch with -I
truer effect the chords of human sympathy. The Lamentation I
of Danae, the most important of the fragments which remain of I
his poetry, is based upon the tradition that Danae and her infant|
son were confined by order of her father Acrisius in a chest and
set adrift on the sea. The myth of her son, Perseus, has a
been narrated.
Myths received their freest and perhaps most idea! treatment]
at the hands of the greatest lyric poet of Greece, Pindar (522 B.C.).,'
In his hymns and songs of praise to gods and in his odes composed'!
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 455
for the victors in the national athletic contests, he was accustomed
to use the mythical exploits of Greek heroes as a text from which
ito draw morals appropriate to the occasion.^
The three great Tragic Poets of Greece have handed down to
us a wealth of mythological material. From the plays of JEschylns
(525 B.C.) we gather, among other noble lessons, the fortunes of
the family of Agamemnon, the narrative of the expedition against
Thebes, the sufferings of Prometheus, benefactor of men. In
the tragedies of Sophocles (495 B.C.) we have a further account
of the family of Agamemnon, myths of CEdipus of Thebes and
his children, stories connected with the Trojan War, and the last
adventure and the death of Hercules. Of the dramas of Euripides
(480 B.C.) there remain to us seventeen, in which are found
stories of the daughters of Agamemnon, the rare and beautiful
narrative of Alcestis, and the adventures of Medea. All of these
stories have been recounted in their proper places.
The Comedies of Aristophanes y also, are replete with matters of
mythological import.
Of the later poets of mythology, only two need be mentioned
here, — Apollonius of Rhodes (194 B.C.), who wrote in frigid style
the story of Jason's Voyage for the Golden Fleece ; and Theoc-
ritus of Sicily (270 B.C.), whose rural idyls are at once charm-
ingly natural and romantic.^
(4) Historians of Mythology, The earliest narrators in prose
of the myths, legends and genealogies of Greece lived about
600 B.C. Herodotus, the ** father of history " (484 B.C.), embalms
various myths in his account of the conflicts between Asia and
Greece. ApoUodorus (140 b.c.) gathers the legends of Greece
later incorporated in the Library of Greek Mythology. That
delightful traveler, Pausanias, makes special mention, in his Tour
of Greece, of the sacred customs and legends that had maintained
themselves as late as his time (160 a.d). Lucian, in his Dialogues
of the Gods and Dialogues of the Dead, awakens '* inextinguishable
laughter " by his satire on ancient faith and fable.
1 See E. B. Clapp, Greek Morality and Religion as Set forth by Pindar {Hibbert Joumai^
8, 283).
3 For other authorities and for a few standard translations of the Greek Classics, see
Commentaiy, § 298.
r
456 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Roman Poets of Mythology. Virgil, called also by his
surname, Maro, from whose poem of the vEneid we have takea
the story of j^neas, was one of the great poets who made the age
of the Roman emperor, Augustus, celebrated. Virgil was bom in
Mantua in the year 70 B.C. His great poem is ranked next to
those of Homer, in that noble class of poetical composition, the
epic. Virgil is inferior to Homer in originality and invention.
The jEneid, written in an age of culture and science, lacks that
charming atmosphere of belief which invests the naive, or popular,
epic. The myths concerning the founding of Rome, which Virgil
has received from earlier writers, he has here fused into a literary
epic. But what the -^neid lacks of epic simplicity, it makes up
in patriotic spirit, in lofty moral and civic ideals, in correctness
of taste, and in stylistic form.
Ovid, often alluded to in poetry by his other name, Naso, was
bom in the year 43 b.c. He was educated for public life and held
some offices of considerable dignity; but poetry was his delight,
and he early resolved to cultivate it. He accordingly sought the
society of contemporary poets and was acquainted with Horace and
saw Virgil, though the latter died when Ovid was yet too young and
undistinguished to have formed his acquaintance. Ovid spent an
easy life at Rome in the enjoyment of a competent income. He-
was intimate with the family of Augustus, the emperor; and it is
supposed that some serious offense given to a member of that family
was the cause of an event which reversed the poet's happy circum-
stances and clouded the latter portion of his life. At the age of fifty
he was banished from Rome and ordered to betake himself to Tomi
on the borders of the Black Sea. His only consolation in exile was
to address his wife and absent friends. His letters were all in verse.
They are called the "Tristia,"or Sorrows, and Letters from Pontus.
The two great works of Ovid are his " Metamorphoses " or Trans-
formations, and his " Fasti," or Poetic Calendar. They are both
mythological poems, and from the former we have taken many of
our stories of Grecian and Roman mythology. These poems hav«
thus been characterized :
" The rich mythology of Greece furnished Ovid, as it may atilL
furnish the poet, the painter, and the sculptor, with materials for
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 457
his art. With exquisite taste, simpUcity, and pathos he has nar-
rated the fabulous traditions of early ages, and given to them that
appearance of reality which only a master hand could impart.
His pictures of nature are striking and true ; he selects with care
that which is appropriate ; he rejects the superfluous, and when
he has completed his work, it is neither defective nor redundant.
The * Metamorphoses ' are read with pleasure by the young and
old of every civilized land."
In an incidental manner, Horace^ the prince of Roman lyric
poets, and the lyric and elegiac writers, Catullus, TibulluSy and
Propertius, have liberally increased our knowledge of Greek and
Roman myth.^
Seneca, the teacher of Nero, is best known for his philosophical
treatises ; but he wrote, also, tragedies, the materials of which are
well-known Greek legends. Apuleius, bom in Africa, 114 a.d.,
interests us as the compiler of a clever romance. The Golden
Ass ;2 the most pleasing episode of which, the story of Cupid and
Psyche, has been elsewhere related.^
300. Records of Norse Mythology.* A system of mythology
of especial interest, — as belonging to the race from which we,
through our English ancestors, derive our origin, — is that of the
Norsemen, who inhabited the countries now known as Sweden,
Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. Their mythological lore has
been transmitted by means of Runes, Skaldic poems, the Eddas,
and the Sagas.
The Runes, The earliest method of writing prevalent among
the Norsemen was by runes. The word means hidden lore, or
mystery. The earliest runes were merely fanciful signs supposed
to possess mysterious power. As a synonym for writing, the term
was first applied to the Northern alphabet, itself derived from
ancient Greek and Roman coins. Of the old Scandinavian runes
several specimens have been found — one an inscription on a
golden horn of the third or fourth century a.d., which was dug
1 With regard to translations of these and other Latin poets, see Commentaiy, § 299.
3 Based upon Lucian's Lucius or the Ass, and other Greek stories.
8 Translation in Walter Pater's Marius the Epicurean.
^ For literature, see Commentaxy.
458 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
up in Schleswig a hundred and sixty years ago ; another, on a
stone at Tune in Norway. From such an alphabet the Anglo-
Saxon runes were derived. Inscriptions in later Scandinavian runes
have been discovered in Sweden, Denmark, and the Isle of Man,
The characters are of the stiff and angular form necessitated by the
materials on which they were inscribed, — tombstones, spoons, chairs,
oars, and so forth. ^ It is doubtful whether mythological poems were
ever written in this way; dedications to pagan deities, ditties of the
eleventh century, and love-spells have, however, been found.
The Skaldic Poems. The bards and poets of the Norsemen
'ere the Skalds. They were the depositaries of whatever historic
lore there was ; and it was their office to mingle something of
intellectual gratification with the rude feasts of the warriors, by re-
hearsing, with such accompaniments of poetry and music as theit
skill could afford, the exploits of heroes living or dead. Such songs
were called Drapas. The origin of Skaldic poetry is lost in mythic
or prehistoric darkness, but the Skalds of Iceland continued to play
a most important part in the literary development of the north as
late as the end of the fourteenth century. Without their coopera-
tion, the greater part of the songs and sagas of genuine antiquity
could hardly have reached us. The Skaldic diction, which was pol-
ished to an artistic extreme, with its pagan metaphors and similes
retained its supremacy over literary form even after the influence of
Christianity had revolutionized national thought.^
The Eddas. The chief mythological records of the Norse are
the Eddas and the Sagas. The word Edda has usually been con-
nected with the Icelandic for great-grandmother:^ it has also
been regarded as a corruption of the High German Erda, Mother
Earth, from whom, according to the lay in which the word first
occurs, the eariiest race of mankind sprang,* — or as the point
or head of Norse poetry,^ or as a tale concerned with death,
as derived from Odde, the home of the reputed collector of the
> CIcasby and Vigfuuon's IcelaDdic-English Dictionary.
' F. W. Horo'i GtBchichie d. Lileratur d. Skandinavischen Nordeo*, >7-4>.
a Cleashy and ViefueSDn'i Dictionaiy ; LUnJng'i Die Edda, iBjg.
< The Lay of Righ in Snorri'a Edda ; Vigfuuon and rowell'a Corpus Poeticum Bomie,
* Jacob Grimm.
he C'cllic aidtadh ■ Proteuor Rhys, v<£iJiiri>>>, Januaiy ji, iSSo.
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 459
Elder Edda. But, of recent years, scholars have looked with
most favor upon a derivation from the Icelandic <^t5r, which means
mind, or poetiy.^ There are two Icelandic collections called
Eddas : Snorri*s and Saemund's. Until the year 1643 the name
was applied to a book, principally in prose, containing Mythical
Tales, a Treatise on the Poetic Art and Diction, a Poem on Meters,
and a Rhymed Glossary of Synonyms, with an appendix of minor
treatises on grammar and rhetoric — the whole intended as a guide
for poets. Although a note in the Upsala manuscript, of date
about 1300 A.D., asserted that this work was **put together" by
Snorri Sturlason, who lived 1178— 1241, the world was not in-
formed of the fact until 1609, when Amgrim Johnsson made the
announcement in his Constitutional History of Iceland.^ While
the main treatises on the poetic art are, in general, Snorri's, the
treatises on grammar and rhetoric have been, with more or less
certitude, assigned to other writers of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. It is probable, too, that in the Mythical Tales, or the
Delusion of Gylfi, Snorri merely enlarged and edited with poet-
ical illustrations the work of earlier hands. The poets of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries do not speak of Snorri, but
they refer continually to the " rules of Edda,*' and frequently to
the obscurity and the conventionality of Eddie phraseology, fig-
ures, and art. Even at the present day in Iceland it is common
to hear the term " void of Eddie art," or " a bungler in Eddie
art." A rearrangement of Snorri's Edda, by Magnus Olafsson
(1 574-1636), is much better known than the original work.
In 1642, Bishop Biyniolf Sveinsson discovered a manuscript of
the mythological poems of Iceland. Misled by theories of his
own and by a fanciful suggestion of the famous antiquary Biom
of Scardsa, he attributed the composition of these poems to Sae-
mund the Wise, a historian who lived 1056-1133. Henceforth,
consequently, Snorri*s work is called the Younger, or Prose Edda,
in contradistinction to Bryniolf*s find, which is known as the
Elder, the Poetical Edda, or the Edda of Saemund. The oldest
manuscript of the Poetical Edda is of the thirteenth century. Its
1 Ame Magnusson, see Morley's English Writers, 2, 336, and Murray's New English
Dictionary. ^ Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i ; 3cxvii, etc.
fe6o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
B|6o
^Bfpontents were probably collected not later than 1150, The com-
^Bjposition of the poems cannot well be placed earlier than the ninth or
^V tenth centuries after Christ; and a consideration of the habits, laws,
^1 geography, and vocabulary illustrated by the poems leads eminent
^P scholars to assign the authorship to emigrants of the south Norwe-
gian tribes who, sailing westward, " won Waterford and Limerick,
and kinged it in York and East England,"' The poems are Ice-
landic, however, in their general character and history. They a
principally of heroic and mythical import: such as the stories of
Balder's Fate, of Skimir's Journey, of Thor's Hammer, of Helgi
the Hunding's Bane, and the twenty lays that in fragmentary fashion
tell the eventful history of the Volsungs and the Nibelungs.'
The Sagas. The Eddas contain many myths and mythical
features that contradict the national character of both Germans
and Norsemen, but the sagas have their roots in Norse civiliza-
tion and are national property.^ Of these mythic-heroic prose
compositions the most important to us is the Volsunga Saga, which
was put together probably in the twelfth century and is based in
part upon the poems of the Elder Edda, in part upon floating
traditions, and in part upon popular songs that now are lost.*
301. Records of German Mythology." The story of the Vol-
sungs and the Nibelungs springs from mythological sources com-
mon to the whole Teutonic race. Two distinct versions of the
saga survive, — the Low or Nonh German, which we have already
noticed in the lays of the Elder Edda and in the Norse Volsunga
Saga, and the High or South German, which has been preserved
in German folk songs and in the Nibelungenlied, or Lay of the
Nibelungs, that has grown out of them. The Norse form of the
story exhibits a later survival of the credulous, or myth-making,
I mental condition. The Lay of the Nibelungs absorbed, at an
earlier date, historical elements, and began sooner to restrict the
personality of its heroes within the compass of human limitations.*
1 Cor]>u> Poeticum Boreale, i ; liixi; Ixjii-lxiv,
1 For lileraiure, see Commentary,
* PbuI's Gnmdrias d. GemuniBchen Philologie ; Bd. i, Lfg. ;, Mythshgit.
^K < Moiriiand MsgnuBSan'sThe Stoiy o[ ihe Volaungsand Nibelungs. Hott's Grirhichie
^^L t. Ltteralur d. Skandinaviiehen Nordeni, >7-4i, ;S, etc.
^H ' Weinei' iUhn, Dai Klbclungcnlied,
I
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 46 1
Although there are many manuscripts, or fragments of manu-
scripts, of the NibelungenUed that attest its popularity between
the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was not until the Swiss
critic, J. J. Bodmer, published, in 1757, portions of two ancient
poems, " The Revenge of Kriemhild " and " The Lament over the
Heroes of Etzel," that the attention of modern scholars was called
to this famous German epic. Since that time many theories of the
composition of the NibelungenUed have been advanced. It has
been held by some that the German epic is an adaptation of the
Norse version ; ^ by others, that the Scandinavians, not the Ger-
mans, borrowed the story ; and by others still, that the epics, while
proceeding from a common cradle, are of independent growth.
The last theory is the most tenable.^ Concerning the history of
the NibelungenUed, it has been maintained that since, during the
twelfth century, when no poet would adopt any other poet's
stanzaic form, the Austrian Von Kiirenberg used the stanzaic
form of the NibelungenUed, the epic must be his.^ It has also
been urged that the poem, having been written down about 11 40,
was altered in metrical form by younger poets, until, in 1200 or
thereabouts, it assumed the form preserved in the latest of the
three great manuscripts.* But the theory advanced by Lachmann
is still of great value : that the poem consists of a number of
ancient ballads of various age and uneven worth ; and that, about
1 2 10, a coUector, mending some of the ballads to suit himself,
strung them together on a thread of his own invention.
In fine, the materials of the poem would persuade us not only
of its origin in very ancient popular lays, but of their fusion and
improvement by the imaginative effort of at least one, and prob-
ably of several poets, who lived and wrote between 11 20 and
1200 A.D. The metrical structure, also, would indicate derivation
from the German folk song and modification due to multifa-
rious handling on the part of popular minstrels and poets of
written verse.^
1 The Grimm Brothers ; v. d. Hagen ; Vilmar.
2 Werner Hahn ; Jas. Sime, Encyc. Brit. NibelungenRed,
8 Pfeiffer.
< Bartsch, see Encyc. Brit.
6 Werner Hahn, 18, 58-60.
462 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
f
^M 302. Records of Oriental Mythology: Egyptian.^ Although the
^1 myths of Egypt, India, and Persia are of intense interest and im-
^H portance, they have not materially affected English literature. The
^1 following is, however, a brief oudine of the means by which some
^B of them have been preserved.
^H The Egyptian records are (i) TAe Hieroglyphs, or sacred in-
^B scripdons in Tombs of the Kings, and other solemn places, —
^^k conveying ideas by symbols, by phonetic signs, or by both ; (2)
^H The Sacred Papyri, containing hymns to the gods ; (3) Th
^H Books of the Dead and of the Lower Hemisphere, — devoted to
^V necromantic incantations, prayers for the souls of the departed,
and other rituals.
303. Indian Records, (i) The Vedas, or Holy Scriptures of the
Hindus, which fall into four divisions. The most ancient, the
> Rig- Veda, consists of hymns of an elevated and spiritual character
composed by families of Rishis, or psalmists, as far back, perhaps,
as 3000 B.C., not later than 1400 b.c. They give us the religious
conceptions of the Aryans when they crossed the Himalayas and
began to push toward Southern Hindustan. The Sama-Veda is
a book of solemn chants and tunes. The Yajur-Veda comprises
I prayers for sacrificial occasions, and interpretations of the
The Atharva-Veda shows, as might be expected of the youngest
of the series, the influence upon the purer Aryan creed of super-
stitions borrowed, perhaps, from the aboriginal tribes of India.
It contains spelis for exorcising demons and placating them,
(2) The Indian Epics of classical standing. They are the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Scholars differ as to the chron-
ological precedence. The Great Feud of the Bharatas has the
air of superior antiquity because of the numerous hands and
generations that have contributed to its composition. The Ad-
ventures of R5ma, on the other hand, recalls a more primitive
stage of credulity and of savage invention. The MahSbhArata is
a storehouse of mythical tradition. It contains several well-
rounded epic poems, the most beautiful of which is the Episode
of Nala, — a prince who, succumbing to a weakness common to
For tranitaBoni of Oricnul Mytha, Mt Commcntaiy. For mythical personage*, »ee
ln6eitai Dictioniry.
THE PRESERVATION OF MYTHS 463
his contemporaries, has gambled away his kingdom. The Great
Feud of the Bharatas is, indeed, assigned to an author — but his
name, Vyasa, means simply the Arranger. The Ramayana pur-
ports to have been written by the poet Valmiki. It tells how Sita,
the wife of Prince Rama, is carried off to Ceylon by Ravana, king
of the demons, and how Rama, by the aid of an army of monkeys,
bridges the straits between India and Ceylon and, slaying the
demon, recovers his lovely and innocent wife. The resemblance
between the plot and that of the Iliad has inclined some scholars
to derive the Indian from the Greek epic. But, until the rela-
tive antiquity of the poems is established, the Iliad might as well
be derived from the Ramayana. The theory is unsubstantiated.
These epics of India lack the artistic spirit and grace of the Iliad
and the Odyssey, but they display a keener sympathy with nature
and a more romantic appreciation of the loves and sorrows of
mankind.
304. Persian Records.. The Avesta, or Sacred Book of the
ancient Persians, composed in the Zend language and later trans-
lated into medieval Persian, — or Pahlavi, — contains the Gathds,
or hymns of Zoroaster and his contemporaries, and scriptures of
as recent a date as the fifth century b.c. Zoroaster, a holy man
of God, was the founder or the reformer of the Persian religion.
He lived as early as the fourteenth or fifteenth century b.c, and
his system became the dominant religion of Western Asia from
the time of Cyrus (550 b.c.) to the conquest of Persia by Alexan-
der the Great. The teachings of Zoroaster are characterized by
beautiful simplicity, and by an unwavering faith in the ultimate
victory of righteousness fOrmuzd) over evil (Ahriman).
COMMENTARY
[It is hoped that this Commentary may be useful to general readers, to students of art, and to
teachers in the secondary schools, as well as to pupils. The cross references are always to sections ;
and the section numbers correspond with those of the text in the body of the book. The letter C.
prefixed to a number indicates Conunentaxy.]
8. Chaos : a gap. Compare the " Beginning Gap " of Norse mythology. Eros :
a yearning. Ersbus : black, from root meaning to cover,
4. Uranus (Greek Ouranos) corresponds with the name of the Indian divinity
Varunas, root var^ ' to cover.* Uranus is the starry vault that covers the earth ;
Varunas became the rain-giving sky. Titan : the honorable, powerful ; the king ;
later, the signification was limited to the sun. Oceanus probably means flood.
Tethys : the nourisher, nurse. H3rperion : the wanderer on high; * the sun. Thea :
the beautiful, shining ; the moon. She is called by Homer Euryphaessa, the far-
shining. Iax)etus: the sender, hurler, wounder. Themis: that which is estab-
lished, law. Mnemosyne : memory. Other Titans were Coeus and Phoebe, figurative
of the radiant lights of heaven ; Creiis and Eurybie, mighty powers, probably of
the sea ; Ophion, the great serpent, and Eurynome, the far-ruling, who, accord-
ing to Apollonius of Rhodes, held sway over the Titans until Cronus cast them
into the Ocean, or into Tartarus.
Cronus (Greek Kronos) is, as his name shows, the god of ripening, harvest,
maturity. Rhea comes from Asia Minor, and was there worshiped as the Mother
Earth, dwelling creative among the mountains. Cronus {Kronos) has been natu-
rally, but wrongly, identified with Chronos, the personification of Time^ which, as
it brings all things to an end, devours its own offspring; and also with the Latin
Saturn, who, as a god of agriculture and harvest, was represented with pruning-
knife in hand, and regarded as the lord of an ancient golden age.
The three Cycloi)es were Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. Cyclops means the
round-eyed. The Hecatonchires were Briareus, the strong, called also ^Egaeon ;
Cottus, the striker ; Gyes, or Gyges, the vaulter, or crippler. Gyges is called by
Horace (Carm. 2, 17, 14) Centimanus, — the hundred-handed.
Jllustratiue, Milton, in Paradise Lost, 10, 581, refers to the tradition of Ophion
and Eurynome, who " had first the rule of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driven."
Hjrperion : see Shakespeare's Hamlet, " Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove
1 For assistance in collecting references to English poetry the author is indebted to
Miss M. B. Clayes, a graduate of the University of California.
2 Popular etymology. The suffix Jon is patronymic. .
465
466 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
himself." Also Henry V, IV, i ; Troilus and Cressida, II, iii ; Titus Andronicus,
V, iii J Gray, Progress of Poesy, " Hyperion's march they spy, and glittering
shafts of war " ; Spenser, Prothalamion, " Hot Titans beames." On Oceanus, Ben
Jonson, Neptune's Triumph. On Saturn, see Shakespeare, Much Ado About
Nothing, I, iii; 2 Henry IV, II, iv; Cymbeline, II, v; Titus Andronicus, II, iii;
IV, iii; Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 512, 519, 583, and II Penseroso, 24. See Robert
Buchanan, Cloudland, " One like a Titan cold," etc. ; Keats, Hyperion ; B. W.
Procter, The Fall of Saturn.
In Art. Helios (Hyperion) rising from the sea: sculpture of eastern pediment
of the frieze of the Parthenon (British Museum). Mnemosyne : D. G. Rossetti
(crayons and oil).
6. Homer makes Zeus (Jupiter) the oldest of the sons of Cronus ; Hesiod makes
him the youngest, in accordance with a widespread savage custom which makes the
youngest child heir in chief. — Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., i, 297. According to
other legends Zeus was born in Arcadia, or even in Epirus at Dodona, where was
his sacred grove. He was in either case reared by the nymphs of the locality.
According to Hesiod, Theog. 730, he was born in a cave of Mount Dicte, in Crete.
6. Atlas, according to other accounts, was not doomed to support the heavens
until after his encounter with Perseus.
8. See Milton's Hymn on the Nativity, " Not Typhon huge ending in snaky
twine." The monster is also called Typhoeus (Hesiod, Theog. 1137). The name
means to smoke ^ to bum. The monster personifies fiery vapors proceeding froro
subterranean 'places. Other famous Giants were Mimas, Polybotes, Ephialtes.
Rhoetus, Clytius. See Preller, i, 60. Briareus (really a Centimanus) is frequentl]|
ranked among the giants.
IBustratwe. Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, I, ii; Milton, Paradise Lost, i,
199, and Hymn on the Nativity, 226; M. Arnold, Empedocles, Act 2; Pope,
Dunciad, 4, 66. For giants, in general, see Milton, Paradise Lost, 3, 464; 11.
642, 688 ; Samson Agonistes, 148.
10-15. Prometheus : forethought.^ Epimetheus : afterthought. According to
iEschylus (Prometheus Bound) the doom of Zeus (Jupiter) was only contingent If
he should refuse to set Prometheus free and should, therefore, ignorant of the secret,
wed Thetis, of whom it was known to Prometheus that her son should be greater
than his father, then Zeus would be dethroned. If, however, Zeus himself delivered
Prometheus, that Titan would reveal his secret and Zeus would escape both the mar-
riage and its fateful result. The Prometheus Unbound of iEschylus is lost; but its
name indicates that in the sequel the Titan is freed from his chains. And from hints
in the Prometheus Bound we gather that this liberation was. to come about in the way
mentioned above, Prometheus warning Zeus to marry Thetis to Peleus (whose son,
Achilles, proved greater than his father, — see 191) ; or by the intervention of Her-
cules who was to be descended in the thirteenth generation from Zeus and lo (see
161 and C. 149) ; or by the voluntary sacrifice of the Centaur Chiron, who, when Zeus
should hurl Prometheus and his rock into Hades, was destined to substitute himself
1 Popular etymology. The root of the name indicates Fire-god,
COMMENTARY 467
for the Titan, and so by vicarious atonement to restore him to the life of the upper
world. In Shelley's great drama of Prometheus Unbound, the Zeus of tyranny
and ignorance and superstition is overthrown by Reason, the gift of Prometheus
to mankind. Sicyon (or Mecone) : a city of the Peloponnesus, near Corinth.
mustrative, Milton, Paradise Lost, ** More lovely than Pandora whom the gods
endowed with all their gifts." Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, II, i, 16.
Poems. D. G. Rossetti, Pandora ; Longfellow, Masque of Pandora, Prometheus,
and Epimetheus ; Thos. Pamell, Hesiod, or the Rise of Woman. Prometheus, by
Byron, Lowell, H. Coleridge, Robert Bridges; Prometheus Bound, by Mrs.
Browning; translations of iEschylus, Prometheus Bound, Augusta Webster, E.
PI. Plumptre; Shelley, Prometheus Unbound; R. H. Home, Prometheus, the
Fire-bringer ; E. Myers, The Judgment of Prometheus; George Cabot Lodge,
Herakles, a drama. See Byron's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte. The Golden Age :
Chaucer, The Former Age {y&as Prima) ; Milton, Hymn on the Nativity.
In Art, Ancient: Prometheus Unbound, vase picture (Monuments In^dits,
Rome and Paris). Modem : Thorwaldsen's sculpture, Minerva and Prometheus.
Pandora: Sichel (oil), Rossetti (crayons and oil), F. S. Church (water colors).
16. Dante (Durante) degli Alighieri was born in Florence, 1265. Banished by
his political opponents, 1302, he remained in exile until his death, which took
place in Ravenna, 1321. His Vita Nuova (New Life), recounting his ideal love
for Beatrice Portinari, was written between 1290 and 1300; his great poem, the
Divina Commedia (the Divine Comedy) consisting of three parts, — Inferno,
Purgatorio, Paradiso, — during the years of his exile. Of the Divine Comedy,
says Lowell, " It is the real history of a brother man, of a tempted, purified, and
at last triumphant human soul." John Milton (b. 1608) was carried by the stress
of the civil war, 1 641 -1649, away from- poetry, music, and the art which he had
sedulously cultivated, into the stormy sea of politics and war. Perhaps the severity
of his later sonnets and the sublimity of his Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained,
and Samson Agonistes are the fruit of the stem years of controversy through
which he lived, not as a poet, but as a statesman and a pamphleteer. Ceryantes
( 1 547-1 61 6), the author of the greatest of Spanish romances, Don Quixote. His
life was full of adventure, privation, suffering, with but brief seasons of happiness
and renown. He distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto, 1571 ; but in 1575,
being captured by Algerine cruisers, he remained five years in harsh captivity.
After his return to Spain he was neglected by those in power. For full twenty
years he struggled for his daily bread. Don Quixote was published in and after
1605. Corybantes : the priests of Cybele, whose festivals were violent, and whose
worship consisted of dances and noise suggestive of battle.
18. Astraea was placed among the stars as the constellation Virgo, the virgin.
Her mother was Themis (Justice). Astraea holds aloft a pair of scales, in which
she weighs the conflicting claims of parties. The old poets prophesied a return
of these goddesses and of the Golden Age. See also Pope's Messiah, —
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail,
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ;
46S
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
and Milton's Hymn on the Nativity. 14, 15. In Paradise Lost, 4, qi
diRcrenc conception of tlie golden scales, " betwixt Astrxa and the Scorpio)
Emerson moralizes the myth in his Astrsea.
le-ao. mustrathm. B, W. Procter, The Flood of Thessaly. See Ovid's famoua
narrative of the Four Ages and the Flood, Metamorphoses, i, Sg-415. DeucoUon;
Bayard Taylor, Prince Deukalion; Milton, Paradise Lost, 11, iz
Inttrpretatiot. This myth combines two stories of the origin of the Hellenes,
or indigenous Greeks, — one, in accordance with which the Hellenes, as eartlw
born, claimed descent from Pyrrha (the red earth) ; the other and older, by whicll
Deucalion was represented as the only survivor of the flood, but still the founder ■
of the race (Greek /arfj), which he created by casting stones (Creek /dw) be-
hind him. The myth, therefore, proceeds from an uointended pun. Although,
finally, Pyrrha was by myth-makers made the wife of Deucalion, the older mytlt
of the origin of the race from stones was preserved. See Max Miiller, Set. Relig.,
London, 1873, p. 64.
SI. For genealogy of the race of Inachus, Phoroneus, Pelasgus, and lo, sett
Table D, Pelasgus is frequently regarded as the grandson, not the son, of
Phoroneus. For the descendants of Deucalion and Hellen, see Table I of this
commentary.
22. In the following genealogical (able (A), the names of the great gods of
Olympus are printed in heavy-face type. Latin forms of names or Latin substir
Ilhatratioe. On the Gods of Greece, see £. A. Bowring's translation of Schiller'i
Die Gotter Griechenlands, and Bayard Taylor's Masque of the Gods. On Olympiu,
see Lewis Morris, The Epic of Hades. Allusions abound; i.^. ShakeBpeaie^
Troilus and Cressida, III, iii i Julius C^ar, III, i; IV, iii; Hamlet, V, i; Milton,
Paradise Lost, 1, 516; 7,7; 10,583; Pope, Rape of the Lock, 5, 48, and Windsor
Forest, 33, 234 ; E. C. Stedman, News from Olympia. See also E. W. Gosse,
Greece and England (On Viol and Flute).
23. The Olympian Gods. There were, according 10 Mr. Gladstone (iVff. ^w.
Jfev. April, iSgz), about twenty Olympian deities;' (I) The five really ^eat
gods, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon- Apollo, and Athene; (2) Hepha:stus, Ares, Hermes,
Iris, LetO, Artemis, Themis, Aphrodite, Dione, Pieeon (or Pion), and Hebe, — ■
also usually present among the assembled immortals ; (3) Detneler, Persephone,
Dionysus, and Thetis, whose claims are more or less obscured. According tc
same authority, the Distinctive Qualities of the EomBric Gods were as follows:
(i) they were immortal; (3| they were incorporated in human form; {3) they
enjoyed power tar exceeding that possessed by mortals; (4) they were, however
(with the possible exception of Athene, who is never ignorant, never deceived,
never baffled), all liable to certain limitations of energy and knowledge ; (5) they
were subject also to corporeal wants and to human affections. The OlflnpiUl
BeUgiOD, as a whole, was more careful of nations, states, public affairs, than of indi-
viduals and individual character ; and in this respect, according to Mr. Gladstone
ir Latin
■norChipterall-V,
COMMENTARY
469
it differs from Christianity. He holds, however,
that despite the occasional immoralities of the
gods, their general government not only " makes
for righteousness," but is addressed to the end of
rendering it triumphant. Says Zeus, for instance,
in the Olympian assembly, " Men complain of us
the gods, and say that we are the source from
whence ills proceed ; but they likewise themselves
suffer woes outside the course of destiny, through
their own perverse offending." But, beside this
general effort for the triumph of right, there is little
to be said in abatement of the general proposition
that, whatever be their collective conduct, the com-
mon speech of the gods is below the human level
in point of morality.^
24-26. Zeus. In Sanskrit Dyausy in Latin
Jovisy in German Tiu. The same name for the
Almighty (the Light or Sky) used probably thou-
sands of years before Homer, or the Sanskrit Bible
(the Vedas). It is not merely the blue sky, nor the
sky personified, — not merely worship of a natural
phenomenon, but of the Father who is in Heaven.
So in the Vedas we find Dyaus pitavy in the Greek Zeu
pattKy in Latin Jupiter all meaning father of light.
— Max Muller, Sci. Relig. 171, 172. Oracle: the
word signifies also the answers given at the shrine.
IBustratwe. Allusions to Jove on every other
page of Milton, Dryden, Pope, Prior, Gray, and
any poet of the Elizabethan and Augustan periods.
On the Love Affairs of Jupiter and the other gods,
see Milton, Paradise Regained, 2, 182. ]>odoiia:
Tennyson's Talking Oak:
That Thessalian growth,
On which the swarthy ringdove sat.
And mystic sentence spoke. . . .
Poem : Lewis Morris, Zeus, in The Epic of Hades.
In Art, Beside the representations of Jupiter
noted in the text may be mentioned that on the
eastern frieze of the Parthenon ; the Jupiter Otricoli
in the Vatican ; also the Jupiter and Juno (painting)
by Annibale Carracci; the Jupiter (sculpture) by
Benvenuto Cellini.
1 The Olympian Religion (No. Am. Rev. May, 1892).
See his Juventus Mundi.
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470 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
26. Juno was called by the Romans Juno Lucina, the special goddess of child-
birth. In her honor wives held the festival of the Matronalia on the first of March
of each year. The Latin Juno is for Diou-n-on^ from* the stem Diove^ and is the
feminine parallel of Jovis, just as the Greek Dione (one of the loves of Zeus) is
the feminine of Zeus. These names (and Diana, too) come from the root div., ' to
shine,* * to illumine.* There are many points of resemblance between the Italian
Juno and the Greek Dione (identified with Hera, as Hera-Dione). Both are god-
desses of the moon (?), of women, of marriage ; to both the cow (with moon-
crescent horns) is sacred. See Roscher, 21, 576-579. But Overbeck insists
that the loves of Zeus are deities of the earth : ** The rains of heaven (Zeus) do
not fall upon the moon."
Ilbistratwe. W. S. Landor, Hymn of Terpander to Juno ; Lewis Morris, Her^,
in The Epic of Hades.
In Art. Of the statues of Juno the most celebrated was that made by Polyclitus
for her temple between Argos and Mycenae. It was of gold and ivory. See Paus.
2, 17, 4. The goddess was seated on a throne of magnificent proportions; she
wore a crown upon which were figured the Graces and the Hours ,' in one hand
she held a pomegranate, in the other a scepter surmounted by a cuckoo. Of the
extant representations of Juno the most famous are the Argive Hera (Fig. 9
in the text), the torso in Vienna from Ephesus, the Hera of the Vatican at Rome,
the bronze statuette in the Cabinet of Coins and Antiquities in Vienna, the
Famese bust in the National Museum in Naples, the Ludovisi bust in the villa
of that name in Rome, the Pompeian wall painting of the marriage of Zeus and
Hera (given by Baumeister, Denkmaler i, 649; see also Roscher, 13, 2127),
and the Juno of Lanuvium.
27. Athene (Athena) has some characteristics of the warlike kind in common
with the Norse Valkyries, but she is altogether a more ideal conception. The best
description of the goddess will be found in Homer's Iliad, 5, 730 £t seq.
The derivation of Athene is uncertain (Preller). Related, say some, to ather,
al6i/jp, the clear upper air; say others, to the word anthos^ AvBos, *a flower' — virgin
bloom ; or (see Roscher, p. 684) to tf/i^r, dd^p, * spear point* Max MUller derives
Athene from the root oA^ which yields the Sanskrit Ahana and the Greek Daphne,
the Dawn (?). Hence Athene is the Dawn-goddess ; but she is also the goddess
of wisdom, because ** the goddess who caused people to wake was involuntarily
conceived as the goddess who caused people to know" (Science of Language,
I, 548-551). This is poor philology.
Epithets applied to Athene are the bright-eyed, the gray-eyed, the sgis-bearing,
the unwearied daughter of Zeus.
The festival of the Panathena&a was celebrated at Athens yearly in commemo-
ration of the union of the Attic tribes. See C. 176-181.
The name Pallas characterizes the goddess as the brandisheroi lightnings. Her
Palladium — or sacred image — holds always high in air the brandished lance.
Minerya, or Menerya, is connected with Latin mens^ Greek mMos, Sanskrit
manas,* mind^i not with the Latin mane, ^mormng.* The relation is not Tery
COMMENTARY 47 1
plausible between the awakening of the day and the awakening of thought (Max
Miiller, Sci. Lang, i, 552).
For the meaning of the Gorgon, see Commentary on the myth of Perseus.
Ittustrattve. Byron, Childe Harold, 4, 96, the eloquent passage beginning,
Can tyrants but by tyrants conquer'd be,
And Freedom find no champion and no child
Such as Columbia saw arise when she
Sprung forth a Pallas, arm'd and undefiled ?
Shakespeare, Tempest, IV, i ; As You Like It, I, iii ; Winter's Tale, IV, iii ; Peri-
cles, II, iii ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 500; Comus, 701 ; Arcades, 23 ; Lewis Morris*
Athene, in The Epic of Hades; Byron, Childe Harold, 2. 1-15,87,91 ; Ruskin's
Lectures entitled " The Queen of the Air " (Athene) ; Thomas Woolner*s Pallas
Athene, in Tiresias.
In Art. The finest of the statues of this goddess was by Phidias, in the Par-
thenon, or temple of Athena, at Athens. The Athena of the Parthenon has
disappeared; but there is good ground to- believe that we have, in several extant
statues and busts, the artist's conception. (See Frontispiece, the Lemnian Athena,
and Fig. 53, the Hope Athena, ancient marble at Deepdene, Surrey.) The
figure is characterized by grave and dignified beauty, and freedom from any
transient expression; in other words, by repose. The most important copy
extant is of the Roman period. The goddess was represented standing ; in one
hand a spear, in the other a statue of Victory. Her helmet, highly decorated, was
surmounted by a Sphinx. The statue was forty feet in height, and, like the Jupiter,
covered with ivory and gold. The eyes were of marble, and probably painted to
represent the iris and pupil. The Parthenon, in which this statue stood, was also
constructed under the direction and superintendence of Phidias. Its exterior was
enriched with sculptures, many of them from the hand of the same artist. The
Elgin Marbles now in the British Museum are a part of them. Also remarkable
are the Minerva Bellica (Capitol, Rome) ; the Athena of the Acropolis Museum;
the Athena of the JEgina. Marbles (Glyptothek, Munich) ; the Minerva Medica
(Vatican) ; the Athena of Velletri in the Louvre. (See Fig* 10.) In modem
sculpture, especially excellent are Thorwaldsen's Minerva and Prometheus, and
Cellini's Minerva (on the base of his Perseus). In modem painting, Tintoretto's
Minerva defeating Mars.
28. While the Latin god Mars corresponds with Ares, he has also not a few
points of similarity with the Greek Phoebus ; for both names. Mars and Phoebus,
indicate the quality shining. In Rome, the Campus Martins (field of Mars) was
sacred to this deity. Here military maneuvers and athletic contests took place ;
here Mars was adored by sacrifice, and here stood his temple, where his priests,
the Salii, watched over the sacred spear and the shield, Ancile^ that fell from
heaven in the reign of Numa Pompilius. Generals supplicated Mars for victory,
and dedicated to him the spoils of war. See Roscher, pp. 478, 486, on the funda-
mental significance, philosophical and physical, of Ares. On the derivation of
the Latin name Mars^ see Roscher (end of article on Apollo).
I
472 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Ubiatratwe in Art. Of archaic figures, that upon the so-called Framoia Vase
Florence represcnta Area bearded and with the armor of a Homeric warrii
rt of the second half of the fifth century B.C., he is represented as beard-
less, standing with spear and helmet and, generally, chlamys (short warrior's cloak)
0 the marble Ares statue (called the Borghese Achilles) in the Louvre. There
1 a later type (preferred in Rome) of the god in Corinthian helmet pushed back
rom the forehead, the right hand leaning on a spear, in the left a sword with
point upturned, over the left arm a chlamyi. The finest representation of the
ant is the Ari^ LuJarisi in Rome, probably _Df the second half of the
fourth century B.C., — a sitting figure, beautiful in form and feature, with an Eros
playing at his feet. (See Fig. 11.) Mo(3em sculpture: Thorwaldsen's relief,
Mars and Cupid. Modem painting, Raphael's Mara (text, Fig,
29. On the derivation of Eephsestus, see Roscher, p. Z037. From Greek opAl,
to kindle,' OT/Aa, ' to shine,' or jJfAa, ' to burn.' The Latin Vulcan, while a god of
fire, is not represented by the Romans as possessed of technical skill. It is said that
Romulus built bim a temple in Rome and instituted the Vulcanalia, — a festival
honor of the god. The name Vuleanus, or Volcaniis, is popularly connected with
theLatin/ii/jf^?«, 'to flash 'or' ligliten,'/"/^™;-, a 'flash of lightning,' etc. It is quite
natural that, in many legends, fire should play an active part in the creation of
The primitive belief of the Indo-Gerraanic race was that the fire-god, descending
to earth, became the first man ; and that, therefore, the spirit of man was composed
of fire. Vulcan is also called by the Romans Mulciber, from mulceo, * to soften.'
inuatrativt. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, V, i ; Much Ado About Nothing, I, i
Troiluaand Cressida, I, iii ; Hamlet, III, 11 : Milton, Paradise Lost, 1,740:
From mom
A aununer'a day ; and with the setting tmn
Diopt from the senith, like a falling stHr,
On Lemnos, the vEgean isle.
Til Art. Various antique illustrations are extant of the gad as a smith wilt
hammer, or at the forge (text, Fig. 13) ; one of him working with the Cyclopesj
a vase painting of him adorning Fandora -, one of him assisting at the birth of
Minerva; and one of his return to Olympus led by Bacchus and Comi
modem paintings the following are noteworthy: J. A. WiertJ, Forge of Vulcan;
Velasquei, Forge of Vulcan (Museum, Madrid] (text, Fig, 56); the Forge of
Vulcan by Tintoretto. Thorwaldsen's piece of statuary, Vulcan forging Arrows for
Cupid, is justly famous,
U. Castalla : on the slopes of Parnassus, sacred 10 Apollo and the Muiei.
CcphiesUB; in Phocis and Bceotia. [Another Cephissua flows near Athens.)
mttTpretaliiie. The birth, wanderings, retum of Apollo, and his struggle with
the Python, etc., are explained by many scholars as symbolic of the annual course
of the sun. Apollo is born of Leto, who is, according lo hypothesis, the Night
from which the morning sun issues. His conflict with the dragon reminds one of
Siegfried's combat and that of St George. The dragon la variously inlerpreied
COMMENTARY 473
as symbolical of darkness, mephitic vapors, or the forces of winter, which are
overcome by the rays of the springtide sun. The dragon is called Delphyne, or
Python. The latter name may be derived simply from that part of Phocis (Pytho)
where the town of Delphi was situate, or that again from the Greek root puth, * to
rot,* because there the serpent was left by Apollo to decay ; or from the Greek
pathi * to inquire,* with reference to the consultation of the Delphian or Pythian
oracle. " It is open to students to regard the dolphin as only one of the many
animals whose earlier worship is concentrated in Apollo, or to (ake the creature
for the symbol of spring when seafaring becomes easier to mortals, or to interpret
the dolphin as the result of a volks-etymologie (popular derivation), in which the
name Delphi (meaning originally a hollow in the hills) was connected with delphis^
the dolphin.** — Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., 2, 197. Apollo is also called Lycius, which
means, not the wolf-slayer, as it sometimes stated, for the wolf is sacred to Apollo,
but either the wolf-god (as inheriting an earlier wolf-cult) or the golden god of
Light See Preller and Roscher. This derivation is more probable than that
from Lycia in Asia Minor, where the god was said originally to have been wor-
shiped. To explain certain rational myths of Apollo as referring to the annual
and diurnal journeys of the sun is justifiable. To explain the savage and senseless
survivals of the Apollo-myth in that way is impossible.
Festivals. The most important were as follows: (i) The Delphinia, in May,
to celebrate the genial influence of the young sun upon the waters, in opening
navigation, in restoring warmth and life to the creatures of the wave, especially
to the dolphins, which were highly esteemed by the superstitious seafarers, fisher-
men, merchants, etc. (2) The Thargelia, in the Greek month of that name, our May,
which heralded the approach of the hot season. The purpose of this festival was
twofold : to propitiate the deity of the sun and forf end the sickness of summer ;
to celebrate the ripening of vegetation and return thanks for first-fruits. These
festivals were held in Athens, Delos, and elsewhere. (3) The Hyacinthian fast
and feast of Sparta, corresponding in both features to the Thargelian. It was held
in July, in the oppressive days of the Dog Star, Sirius. (4) The Carnean of Sparta,
celebrated in August. It added to the propitiatory features of the Hyacinthian, a
thanksgiving for the vintage. (5) Another vintage-festival was the Pyanepsian,
in Athens. (6) The Daphnephoria : " Familiar to many English people from Sir
Frederick Leighton*s picture. This feast is believed to have symbolized the
year. . . . An olive branch supported a central ball of brass, beneath which was
a smaller ball, and thence little globes were hung.** " The greater ball means the
sun, the smaller the moon, the tiny globes the stars, and the three hundred and
sixty-five laurel garlands used in the feast are understood to symbolize the days.*'
{Proclus and Pausanias.) — Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., 2. 194, 195. Apollo is also
called the Sminthian, or Mouse-god, because he was regarded either as the pro-
tector or as the destroyer of mice. In the Troad mice were fed in his temple ;
elsewhere he was honored as freeing the country from them. As Mr. Lang says
(Myth, Ritual, etc., 2, 201), this is intelligible "if the vermin which had once
been sacred became a pest in the eyes of later generations.**
474 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Oracle of Delphi. It had been observed at a very early period that the goats
feeding on Parnassus were thrown into convulsions when they approached a
certain long deep cleft in the side of the mountain. This was owing to a peculiar
vapor arising out of the cavern, and a. certain goatherd is said to have tried its
effects upon himself. Inhaling the intoxicating air, he was affected in the same
manner as the cattle had been ; and the inhabitants of the surrounding country,
unable to explain the circumstance, imputed the convulsive ravings to which he
gave utterance while under the power of the exhalations to a divine inspiration.
The fact was speedily spread abroad, and a temple was erected on the spot The
prophetic influence was at first variously attributed to the goddess Earth, to Nep-
tune, Themis, and others, but it was at length assigned to Apollo, and to him alone.
A priestess was appointed whose office it was to inhale the hallowed air, and she
was named the Pythia. She was prepared for this duty by previous ablution at
the fountain of Castalia, and being crowned with laurel was seated upon a tripod
similarly adorned, which was placed over the chasm whence the divine afflatus
proceeded. Her inspired words while thus situated were interpreted by the priests.
Other famous oracles were that of Trophonius in Boeotia and that of the
Egyptian Apis. Since those who descended into the cave at Lebadea to consult
the oracle of Trophonius were noticed to return dejected and melancholy, the
proverb arose which was applied to a low-spirited person, "He has been consult-
ing the oracle of Trophonius."
At Memphis the sacred bull Apis gave answer to those who consulted him, by
the manner in which he received or rejected what was presented to him. If the
bull refused food from the hand of the inquirer, it was considered an unfavorable
sign, and the contrary when he received it
It used to be questioned whether oracular responses ought to be ascribed to
mere human contrivance or to the agency of evil spirits. The latter opinion
would of course obtain during ages of superstition, when evil spirits were credited
with an influence over human affairs. A third theory has been advanced since
the phenomena of mesmerism have attracted attention : that something like the
mesmeric trance was induced in the Pythoness, and the faculty of clairvoyance
called into action.
Scholars have also sought to determine when the pagan oracles ceased to g^ve
responses. Ancient Christian writers assert that they became silent at the birth
of Christ, and were heard no more after that date. Milton adopts this view in his
Hymn on the Nativity, and in lines of solemn and elevated beauty pictures the
consternation of the heathen idols at the advent of the Saviour :
The Oracles are dumb ;
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving.
No nighdy trance, or breathed spell
Inspires Uie pale-eyed priest from the prophetic celU
COMMENTARY 475
IBustratwe. Spenser, Faerie Queene, i, 2, 2; i, 2, 29; i, 11, 31 ; i» 12, 2. Sir
Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella; as, for instance, the pretty conceit beginning
Phoebus was judge between Jove, Mars, and Love,
Of those three gods, whose arms the fairest were.
Dekker, The Sun's Darling; Bums (as in the Winter Night) and other Scotch
song-writers find it hard to keep Phoebus out of their verses; Spenser, Epitha-
lamion ; Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, II, i (Apollo and Daphne) ;
Cymbeline (Cloten*s Serenade) ; Love's Labour *s Lost, IV, iii ; Taming of the
Shrew, Induction ii ; Winter's Tale, II, i ; III, i ; III, ii ; Titus Andronicus, IV, i ;
Drayton, Song 8 ; Tickell, To Apollo making Love ; Swift, Apollo Outwitted ;
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 34; Dunciad, 4, 116; Prologue to Satires, 231 ; Miscel-
laneous, 7, 16; Armstrong, The Art of Preserving Health.
Poems, Drummond of Hawthomden, Song to Phoebus; Keats, Hymn to
Apollo ; A. Mary F. Robinson, A Search for Apollo, and In Apollo's Garden ;
Shelley, Homer's Hymn to Apollo; Aubrey De Vere, Lines under Delphi;
Lewis Morris, Apollo, in The Epic of Hades ; R. W. Dixon, Apollo Pythius.
The Python. Milton, Paradise Lost, 10, 531 ; Shelley, Adonais. Oracles.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 12, 515; 5, 382; 10, 182; Paradise Regained,!. 39S»430»
456, 463 ; 3» 13 ; 4» 275 ; Hymn on the Nativity, 173. In Cowper's poem of Yardley
Oak there are mythological allusions appropriate to this subject. On Dodona,
Byron, Childe Harold, 2, 53 ; Tennyson, The Talking Oak. Byron alludes to the
oracle of Delphi when speaking of Rousseau, whose writings he conceives did
much to bring on the French Revolution: Childe Harold, 3, 81, —
For then he was inspired, and from him came,
As from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore.
Those oracles which set the world in flame,
Nor ceased to bum till kingdoms were no more.
In Art, One of the most esteemed of all the remains of ancient sculpture is
the statue of Apollo, called the Belvedere from the name of the apartment of the
Pope's palace at Rome in which it is placed (see Fig. 15). The artist is unknown.
It is conceded to be a work of Roman art, of about the first century of our era
(and follows a type fashioned by a Greek sculptor of the Hellenistic period, prob-
ably in bronze). A variation of the type has been discovered in a bronze statuette
which represents Apollo holding in the left hand an aegis. Some scholars have
therefore surmised that the Apollo of the original was similarly equipped. The
Belvedere Apollo, however, is a standing figure, in marble, more than seven feet
high, naked except for the cloak which is fastened around the neck and hangs over
the extended left arm. It is restored to represent the god in the moment when he
has shot the arrow to destroy the monster Python. The victorious divinity is in
the act of stepping forward. The left arm which seems to have held the bow is
outstretched, and the head is turned in the same direction. In attitude and pro-
portion the graceful majesty of the figure is unsurpassed. The effect is completed
by the countenance, where, on the perfection of youthful godlike beauty, there
476 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
dwells the consciousness of triumphant power. To this statue Byron alludes in
Childe Harold, 4, 161 :
Or view the Lord of the unerring bow,
The God of life, and poetry, and light, —
The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and brow
All radiant from his triumph in the fight ;
The shaft hath just been shot — the arrow bright
With an immortal's vengeance ; in his eye
And nostril, beautiful disdain, and might
And majesty flash their full lightnings by,
Developing in that one glance the Deity.
The standing figure in our text reproduces this conception.^ Also famous in
sculpture are the "Adonis " Apollo of the Vatican (Fig. 14, text) ; the Greek
bronze from Thessaly (Fig. 16, text) ; the Palatine Apollo in the Vatican (Fig.
66, text); the Apollo Citharoedus of the National Museum, Naples, and the
Glyptothek, Munich; the Lycian Apollo; the Apollo Nomios; Apollo of Thera;
the Apollo of Michelangelo (National Museum, Florence). A painting of
romantic interest is Paolo Veronese's St. Christina refusing to adore Apollo.
Of symbolic import is the Apollo (Sunday) by Raphael in the Vatican. Phoebus
and Boreas by J. F. Millet.
82. Latona. A theory of the numerous lOYe-affairs of Jupiter is given in S4
of the text. Delos is the central island of the Cyclades group in the iEgean.
With its temple of Apollo it was exceedingly prosperous.
Interpretative. Latona (Leto), according to ancient interpreters, was night, —
the shadow, therefore, of Juno (Hera), if Hera be the splendor of heaven. But
the early myth-makers would hardly have reasoned so abstrusely. It is not at all
certain that the name Leto means darkness (Preller i, 190, note 4) ; and even if
light is bom of or after darkness, the sun (Apollo) and the moon (Artemis, or
Diana) can hardly be considered to be twins of Darkness (Leto), for they do not
illuminate the heavens at the same time. — Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., 2, 199.
JBustratwe, Byron's allusion to Delos in Don Juan, 3, 86 :
The isles of Greece I the isles of Greece I
Where burning Sappho loved and sung.
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung I
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all, except their sun, is set.
See Milton's Sonnet, " I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs," for allusion
to Latona.
In Art. In the shrine of Latona in Delos there was, in the days of Athenaeus,
a shapeless wooden idol.
Diana. The Latin Diana means either " goddess of the bright heaven,** or
''goddess of the bright day." She is frequently* identified with Artemis, HecatCr
1 Furtwangler (Meisterw. d. gr. Plastik) condemns the aegis.
COMMENTARY 477
Luna, and Selene. According to one tradition, Apollo and Diana were born at
Ortygia, near Ephesus. Diana of the Ephesians, referred to (Acts xix, 28), was a
goddess of not at all the maidenly characteristics that belonged to the Greek
Artemis (Roscher, p. 591 ; A. Lang, 2, 217). Other titles of Artemis are Muny-
chia, the moon-goddess; Calliste, theyZz/r, or the she-bear; Orthia, the sevwre^
worshiped among the Taurians with human sacrifices ; Agrotera, the huntress ;
Pythia ; Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth ; Cynthia, bom on Mount Cynthus.
lUustratwe. Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1,7, 5; i, 12, 7; Shakespeare, Merchant
of Venice, V, i, " Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn," etc. ; Twelfth Night,
I, iv ; Midsummer Night's Dream, I, iv ; All *s"Well that Ends Well, I, iii ; IV, ii ;
IV, iv ; Butler, Hudibras, 3, 2, 1448. Poems: B. W. Procter, The Worship of Dian ;
W. W. Story, Artemis ; E. W. Gosse, The Praise of Artemis ; E. Arnold, Hymn
of the Priestess of Diana ; Wordsworth, To Lycoris ; Lewis Morris, Artemis, in
The Epic of Hades ; A. Lang, To Artemis. PhOBbe (Diana) : Spenser, Epithala-
mion ; Keats, To Psyche. Cynthia (Diana) : Spenser, Prothalamion, Epithala-
mion ; Milton, Hymn on the Nativity ; H. K. White, Ode to Contemplation.
In Art. In art the goddess is represented high-girt for the chase, either in the
act of drawing an arrow from her quiver or watching her missile in its flight. She
is often attended by the hind. Sometimes, as moon-goddess, she bears a torch.
Occasionally she is clad in a chiton^ or robe of many folds, flowing to her feet
The Diana of the Hind {h la Biche)^ in the Palace of the Louvre (see Fig. 18),
may be considered the counterpart of the Apollo Belvedere. The attitude much
resembles that of Apollo, the sizes correspond and also the styles of execution.
The Diana of the Hind is a work of a high order, though by no means equal to
the Apollo. The attitude is that of hurried and eager motion, the face that of a
huntress in the excitement of the chase. The left hand of the goddess is extended
over the forehead of the hind which runs by her side, the right arm reaches
backward over the shoulder to draw an arrow from the quiver. Fig. 19 in the
text is the Artemis Knagia (Diana Cnagia), named after Cnageus, a servant of
Diana who assisted in transferring the statue from Crete to Sparta. In Dresden
there is a statue of Artemis in the style of Praxiteles (Fig. 68, text) ; and in the
Louvre an ancient marble called the Artemis of Gabii (Fig. 77, text).
In modem painting, noteworthy are the Diana and her Nymphs of Rubens ;
Correggio's Diana (Fig. 17) ; Jules Lefebvre*s Diana and her Nymphs; Domeni-
chino*s Diana's Chase. Note also the allegorical Luna (Monday) of Raphael in
the Vatican ; and D. G. Rossetti*s Diana, in crayons.
84. Interpretative, The worship of Aphrodite was probably of Semitic origin,
but was early introduced into Greece. The Aphrodite of Hesiod and Homer dis-
plays both Oriental and Grecian characteristics. All Semitic nations, except the
Hebrews, worshiped a supreme goddess who presided over the moon (or the
Star of Love), and over all animal and vegetable life and growth. She was
the Istar of the Assyrians, the Astarte of the Phoenicians, and is the analogue of
the Greek Aphrodite and the Latin Venus. See Roscher, p. 390, etc. The native
Greek deity of love would appear to have been, however, Dione, goddess of the
Brs
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
I
I
I
moist and productive soil (C. 26), who passes in the Iliad (5. 370, 418) as the
mother of Aphrodite, is worshiped at Dodona by the side of Zeua, and is
regarded by Euripides as Thyone, mother of Dionysus (Preller i, 159).
The epithets and names most frequently applied to Aphrodite are the Paphlan,
Cspria (the CypruB-bom), Cytherea, Erycina (from Mount Eryx), Pandemos
(goddess of vuigar love), Pelagia (Aphrodite of the sea), Urania (Aphrodite of
ideal love), Anadyomene (rising from the water) ; she is, also, the sweetly smil-
ing, laughter-lovmg, bright, golden, fruitful, winsome, flower-faced, blushing,
ewift-eyed, gold en -crowned.
She had temples and groves in Faphos, Abydos, Samos, Ephesus, Cjrprvis,
Cythere, in some of which — far instance, Paphos — gorgeous annual festivals
were held. See Childe Harold, 1, 66.
Venns was 3. deity of extreme antiquity among the Romans, but not of great
importance until she had acquired certain attributes of the Eastern Aphrodite.
She was worshiped as goddess of love, as presiding over marriage, as the god-
dess who turns the hearts of men, and, later, even as a goddess of victory. A
festival in her honor, called the Veneralia, was held in Rome in April.
lUustratiBe. See Chaucer's Knight's Tale for frequent references to the god-
dess of love ; also the Court of Love ; Spenser's Frothalaouon, and Epithalamion,
"Handmaids of the Cyprian queen"; Shakespeare, Tempest, IV, i; Merchant of
Venice, II, vi j Troilus and Crcssida, IV, v; Cymbehne, V, v ; Romeo and Juliet,
11,1; Milton, L'AUegro; Paradise Rega.ined, 2, 214; Comus,t24; Fope, Rape of
the Lock 4. J35; Spring, 65; Summer, 61 ; Thomas Wo olner, Pygmalion (Cytherea).
Poems. Certain parts of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis and occasional
•tanzas in Swinburne's volume, Laus Veneris, may be adapted to illustrative pur-
poses. Chaucer, The Complaint of Mars and Venus; Thomas Wyatt, The Lover
piayeth Venus to conduct him to the Desired Haven. See the melodious chorus
to Aphrodite in Swinburne's Atalania in Calydon ; Lewis Morris, Aphrodite, in
The Epic of Hades ; Thomas Gordon Hake, The Birth of Venus, in New Symbols ;
D. G. Rosaetti, Sonnets ; Venus Verticordia, Venus Victrht.
3fi. la Art. One of the most famous of ancient paintings was the Venus rising
from the foam, of Apelles. The Venus found (1S20) in the island of Mclos, or of
Uilo (see text, opp. p. 32), now to be seen in the Louvre in Paris, is the work of
some sculptor of about the fourth century B.C. Some say that the left hand
uplifted held a mirrorlike shield; others, an apple; still others, a trident; and
that Che goddess was Amphitrite. A masterpiece of Praxiteles was the Venus
of Cnidos, based upon which are the Venus of the Capttoline in Rome and the
Venus de' Medici in Florence. Also the Venus of the Vatican, which is, in
my opinion, superior to both. The Venus of the Medid was in the possession
of the princes of that name in Rome when, about two hundred years ago, it first
attracied attention. An inscription on the base assigns it to Clcomenes, an
Athenian sculptor of 200 h.c, but the authenticity of the inscription is doubtful.
There is a story that the artist was employed by public authority to make a statue
exhibiting the perfection of female beauty, and that to aid him in his laslt the
COMMENTARY 479
most perfect forms the city could supply were furnished him for models. Note
Thomson's allusion in the Summer :
So stands the statue that enchants the world ;
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
And Byron*s
There too the goddess loves in stone, and fills
The air around with beauty. — Childe Harold, 4, 49-53.
One of the most beautiful of the Greek Aphrodites is the Petworth (opp. p. 126,
text).
Of modem paintings the most famous are : the Sleeping Venus and other
representations of Venus by Titian; the Birth of Venus by Bouguereau; Tin-
toretto's Cupid, Venus, and Vulcan; Veronese's Venus with Satyr and Cupid.
Modem sculpture : Thorwaldsen*s Venus with the Apple ; Venus and Cupid ;
Cellini's Venus ; Canova's Venus Victrix, and the Venus in the Pitti Gallery ;
Rossetti's Venus Verticordia (crayons, water colors, oil).
86. Interpretative. Max Miiller traces Hermes, child of the Dawn with its fresh
breezes, herald of the gods, spy of the night, to the Vedic Sarami, goddess of
the Dawn. Others translate SaramS, storm, Roscher derives from the same
root as Sarameyas (son of Sarami), with the meaning Hastener^ the swift wind.
The invention of the syrinx is attributed also to Pan.
Illustrative. To Mercury's construction of the lyre out of a tortoise shell. Gray
refers (Progress of Poesy)," Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, Enchanting
shell!" etc. See Shakespeare, King John, IV, ii; Henry IV, IV, i; Richard III,
II, i; IV, iii; Hamlet, III, iv ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 3, " Though by their power-
ful art they bind Volatile Hermes"; 4, 717; 11, 133; H Penseroso, 88; Comus,
637, 962. Poems: Sir T. Martin, Goethe's Phoebus and Hermes ; Shelley's trans-
lation of Homer's Hymn to Mercury.
In Art. The Mercury in the Central Museum, Athens; Mercury Belvedere
(Vatican); Mercury in Repose (National Museum, Naples). The Hermes by
Praxiteles, in Olympia (text, opp. p. 150), and the Hermes Psychopompos leading
to the underworld the spirit of a woman who has just died (text, Fig. 20 ; from a
relief sculptured on the tomb of Myrrhina), are especially fine specimens of
ancient sculpture.
In modern sculpture : Cellini's Mercury (base of Perseus, Loggia dei Lanzi,
Florence) ; Giov. di Bologna's Flying Mercury (bronze, Bargello, Florence : text,
opp. p. 330) ; Thorwaldsen's Mercury. In modern painting : Tintoretto's Mercury
and the Graces ; Francesco Albani's Mercury and Apollo ; Claude Lorrain's Mer-
cury and Battus; Turner's Mercury and Argus; Raphael's allegorical Mercury
(Wednesday), Vatican, Rome ; and his Mercury with Psyche (Famese Frescoes).
37. Interpretative. The name Hestia (Latin Vgsta) has been variously derived
from roots meaning ta sit, to stand, to bum. The two former are consistent with
the domestic nature of the goddess ; the latter with her relation to the bearth-fire.
She is ** first of the goddesses," the holy, the chaste, the sacred.
48o THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Ittustratwe, Milton, II Penseroso (Melancholy), "7%^^ bright-haired Vesta long
of yore To solitary Saturn bore," etc.
88. (i) Cupid (Eros). References and allusions to Cupid throng our poetiy.
Only a few are here given. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, I, iv ; Merchant of
Venice, II, vi; Merry Wives, II, ii; Much Ado About Nothing, I, i; II, i; III, ii;
Midsummer Night's Dream, I, i; II, ii; IV, i; Cymbeline, II, iv; Milton, Comus,
445, 1004 ; Herrick, The Cheat of Cupid ; Pope, Rape of the Lock, 5, 102 ; Dun-
ciad, 4, 308 ; Moral Essays, 4, 1 1 1 ; Windsor Forest, — on Lord Surrey, " In the
same shades the Cupids tuned his lyre To the same notes of love and soft desire."
Poems, Chaucer, The Cuckow and Nightingale, or Boke of Cupid (?) ; Occleve,
The Letter of Cupid ; Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid's Revenge, and the Masque,
A Wife for a Month ; J. G. Saxe, Death and Cupid, on their exchange of arrows,
" And that explains the reason why Despite the gods above. The young are often
doomed to die. The old to fall in love " ; Thomas Ashe, The Lost Eros ; Coventry
Patmore, The Unknown Eros. Also John Lyly's Campaspe :
Cupid and my Campaspe playd.
At cardes for kisses, Cupid payd ;
He stakes his quiver, bow, and arrows,
His mother's doves, and teeme of sparows ;
Looses them too ; then, downe he throwes
The corrall of his lippe, the rose
Growing on 's cheek (but none knows how).
With these, the cristall of his brow,
And then the dimple of his chinne :
All these did my Campaspe winne.
At last hee set her both his eyes ;
Shee won, and Cupid blind did rise.
O love I has shee done this to thee ?
What shall (alas I) become of mee ?
See also Lang's translation of Moschus, Idyl I, and O. Wilde, The Garden of Eros.
In Art. Antique sculpture : the Eros in Naples, ancient marble from an original
perhaps by Praxiteles (text. Fig. 21); Eros bending the Bow, in the Museum at
Berlin ; Cupid bending his Bow (Vatican) ; Eros with his Bow, in the Capitoline
(text, opp. p. 136).
Modem sculpture : Thorwaldsen's Mars and Cupid. Modem paintings :
Bouguereau's Cupid and a Butterfly ; Raphael's Cupids (among drawings in the
Museum at Venice); Burne-Jones' Cupid (in series with Pyramus and Thisbe);
Raphael Mengs' Cupid sharpening his Arrow ; Guido Reni's Cupid ; Van Dyck's
Sleeping Cupid. See also under Psyche^ C. 101.
Hymen. See Sir Theodore Martin's translations of the Collis O Heluonii^ and
the Vesper adesU juvenes^ of Catullus (LXI and LXII); Milton, Paradise Lost,
II, 591 ; L'Allegro, 125; Pope, Chorus of Youths and Virgins.
(2) Hebe. Thomas Lodge's Sonnet to Phyllis, ** Fair art thou, Phyllis, ay, so
fair, sweet maid"; Milton, Vacation Exercise, 38; Comus, 290; L'Allegro, 29;
COMMENTARY 48 1
Spenser, Epithalamion. Poems: T. Moore, The Fall of Hebe ; J. R. Lowell, Hebe.
In Art : Ary Scheffer's painting of Hebe ; N. Schiavoni's painting.
Ganymede. Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 81 ; Tennyson, in the Palace of Art, " Or
else flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh Half-buried in the Eagle's down," etc. ;
Shelley in the Prometheus (Jove's order to Ganjrmede) ; Milton, Paradise Regained,
2, 3 53 ; Drayton, Song 4, " The birds of Gan)rmed." Poems: Lord Lytton, Gan)rmede ;
Bowring, Goethe's Ganymede; Roden Noel, Gan)rmede; Edith M. Thomas,
Homesickness of Ganymede; S. Margaret Fuller, Gan)rmede to his Eagle;
Drummond on Ganymede's lament, " When eagle's talons bare him through the
air." In Art: The Rape of Ganymede, marble in the Vatican, probably from the
original in bronze by Leochares (fext, Fig. 22). Graeco-Roman sculpture: Gany-
mede and the Eagle (National Museum, Naples). Modern sculpture : Thorwald-
sen's Gan)rmede.
(3) The Graces. Rogers, Inscription for a Temple; Matthew Arnold, Eu-
phrosyne. These goddesses are continually referred to in poetry. Note the
painting by J. B. Regnault (Louvre), also the sculpture by Canova.
(4) The Muses. Spenser, The Tears of the Muses ; Milton, II Penseroso ; Byron,
Childe Harold, i. i, 62, 88 ; Thomson, Castle of Indolence, 2, 2 ; 2, 8; Akenside,
Pleasures of Imagination, 3. 280, 327 ; Ode on Lyric Poetry ; Crabbe, The Village,
Bk. I ; Introductions to the Parish Register, Newspaper, Birth of Flattery ; M.
Arnold, Urania. Delphi, Parnassus, etc. : Gray, Progress of Poesy, 2, 3. Vale of
Tempe: Keats, On a Grecian Urn ; Young, Ocean, an ode. In Art. Sculpture : Poly-
hymnia, ancient marble in Berlin (text. Fig. 23) ; Clio and Calliope, in the Vatican
in Rome ; Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, and Urania, in the Louvre, Paris ;
Terpsichore by Thorwaldsen. Painting: Apollo and the Muses, by Raphael Mengs
and by Giulio Romano ; Terpsichore (picture), by Schiitzenberger.
(5) The Hours, in art : Raphael's Six Hours of the Day and Night
(6) The Fates. Refrain stanzas in Lowell's Villa Franca, " Spin, spin, Clotho,
spin ! Lachesis, twist ! and Atropos, sever ! " In Art: The Fates, painting attributed
to Michelangelo, but now by some to Rosso Fiorentino from Michelangelo's
design (text. Fig. 24, Pitti Gallery, Florence) ; painting by Paul Thumann.
(7) Nemesis. For genealogy see Table B, C. 49.
(8) iEsculapius. Spenser, Faerie Queene, i, 5* 36-43; Milton, Paradise Lost,
9» 507.
(9) (10) The Winds, Helios, Aurora, Hesper, etc. .Solus: Chaucer, Hous of
Fame, 480. See C.125 and genealogical tables H and I. Hippotades is i^olus (son of
Hippotes). In Lycidas, 96, Milton calls the king of the winds Hippotades, because,
following Homer (Odyssey, 10,2) and Ovid (Metam. 14,224), he identifies iEolus II
with i^olus III. Boreas and Orithyia : Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, 1,722.
In Art, The fragment, Helios rising from the Sea, by Phidias, south end, east
pediment of the Parthenon. Boreas and Zetos, Greek reliefs (text, Figs. 25 and
26); Boreas and Orithyia (text, Fig. 27), on a vase in Munich.
(11) Hesperus. Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 605; 9, 49 ; Comus,982; Akenside, Ode
to Hesper ; Campbell, Two Songs to the Evening Star. Tennyson, The Hesperides.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^V (iz) " IliB there nith humid bow waters the odorous batiks," etc., Comits, 992.
^^ See al90 Milton's Paradise Lost, 4, 69S ; 11, 244. In Art.\Fig. 2S, test; and
painting by Guy Head (Gallery, St. Luke's, Rome). She is Che swift-footed, wind-
footed, fleet, the Iris of the golden wings, etc.
38. Hyperborean. Beyond tkt North. Concerning the Elysian Plain, sec 46.
niastrative ; Milton, Comus, " Now the gilded car of day," etc.
40. Ceres. Mmtrative. Pope, Moral Essays, 4, 176, "Anotherageshall see the
P golden ear Imbrown the slope . . , And laughing Ceres reassume the land"; Spring,
66 ; Summer, 66 ; Windsor Forest, 39 ; Gray, Progress of Poesy ; Watton, First of
April, " Fancy . . . Sees Ceres grasp her crown of com, And Plenty load her ample
horn " ; Spenser, Faerie Queene, 3, i, 51 ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 268 ; 9, 395.
Poems. Tennyson, Demeter and Persephone ; Mrs. H. H. Jackson, Demetcr.
Frost: W. IL Paler, The Myth of Demeter (Forin. Reu. Vol. 25, 1876) ; S. Colvin,
A Greek Hymn (Comh. Mag. Vol. 33, 1876) ; Swinburne, At Eleusis.
■ The name Ctm is from the stem cir, Sanskrit iri, 'to make.' By metonomy
Cbe word comes to signify com in the Latin. Demeter {F^ /(^rip, H ^Ti)p)
^ means Mother £artA. The goddess is represented in art crowned with a wheat-
measure (or laaiiiui'j, and bearing a horn of plenty lilled with ears of com.
Demeter (?) appears in the group of deities on the eastern frieze of the Parthe-
non. Also noteworthy are the Demeter from Knidos (text, Fig. 29, from the marble
in the British Museum) ; two statues of Ceres in the Vatican at Rome, and one in
the Glyptothek at Munich ; and the Roman wall painting (text. Fig. 30).
41. Hhea was worshiped as Cybelo, the Great Mother, in Phiygia and at
Pessinus in Galada. During the Second Punic War, 203 B.C., her image was
brought from the latter place to Rome. In 191 B.C. the Megalensian Games
were first celebrated in her honor, occupying six days, from the fourth of April
on. Plays were acted during this festival. The Great Mother was also called
Cybebe, Berecyncia, and Dindyraene.
The Cf bele of Art. In works of art, Cybele exhibits the matronly air which dis-
tinguishes Juno and Ceres. Sometimes she is veiled, and seated on a throne with
lions at her side ; at other times she rides in a chariot drawn by lions. She wears a
mural crown, that is, a crown whose rim ix carved in the form of towers and bat-
tlements. Rhea is mentioned by Homer (Iliad, 1 5, iS;) as the consort of Cronus.
Ittiatraline. Byron's figure likening Venice to Cybele, Childe Harold, 4, ;,
" She looks a sea.Cybele, fresh from ocean," etc. Also Milton's Arcades. 2 1 ,
■^ 42. InterpTttative. It is interesting to note that Homer (Iliad and Odyssey)
^B recognizes Dionysus neither as inventor, nor as exclusive god of wine. In Iliad-
^■^ 130 he refers, however, to the Dionysus cult in Thrace. Hesiod is the first to
■ call wine the gift of Dionysus. Dionj'anB means the Zeus or god of Nysa, ui
imaginary vale of Thrace, Bifotia, or elsewhere, in which the deity spent his
youth. The name Bacchua owes ria orig:in to the tnthusiaim with which the
followers of the god lifted up their voices in his praise. Similar names are lacchus,
Bromiut, Eviua (from the cry rvae). The god was also called LyKUs, the loaienrr
i care. Liber, the libirator. His followers are also known as Edooides (from
COMMENTARY 483
Mount Edon, in Thrace, where he was worshiped), Thyiades, the sacrificerAy
Lenae and Bassarides. His festivals were the Lesser and Greater Dionysia (at
Athens), the Lenaea, and ^he Anthesteria, in December, March, January, and
February, respectively. At the first, three dramatic performances were presented.
Illustrative. A few references and allusions worth consulting : Spenser,
Epithalamion ; Fletcher, Valentinian, " God Lyaeus, ever young " ; Randolph,
To Master Anthony Stafford (1632); Milton, L* Allegro, 16; Paradise Lost, 4,
279 ; 7, 33 ; Comus, 46, 522 ; Shakespeare, Midsummer Night*s Dream, V, i ;
Love's Labour *s Lost, IV, iii ; Antony and Cleopatra, II, vii, song; Shelley, Ode to
Liberty, 7, Rome — "like a Cadmaean Maenad"; Keats, To a Nightingale, "Not
charioted by Bacchus and his pards." On Semele, Milton, Paradise Regained, 2,
187; Spenser, Faerie Queene, 3, 11, 33.
Poems. Ben Jonson, Dedication of the King's New Cellar ; Thomas Pamell,
Bacchus, or the Drunken Metamorphosis ; Landor, Sophron's Hymn to Bacchus ;
Swinburne, Prelude to Songs before Sunrise; Roden Noel, The Triumph of
Bacchus ; Robert Bridges, The Feast of Bacchus ; others given in text. See Index.
In Art. Of ancient representations of the Bacchus, the best examples are the
marble in the British Museum (text, Fig. 31) ; the Silenus holding the child
Bacchus (in the Louvre) ; the head of Dionysus found in Smyrna (now in Leyden
— see text, Fig. 143), from an original of the school of Scopas; the head (now
in London) from the Baths of Caracalla, of the later Attic school ; the Faun and
Bacchus (Museum, Naples) ; a standing bronze figure in Vienna, and the statue
of the Villa Tiburtina (Rome). The bearded or Indian Bacchus is represented
as advanced in years, grave, dignified, crowned with a diadem and robed to the
feet. See also Figs. 82-87, in text.
In modem sculpture note especially the Drunken Bacchus of Michelangelo.
Among modem paintings worthy of notice are Bouguereau*s Youth of Bacchus,
and C. Gleyre's Dance of the Bacchantes. See also under Ariadne.
43. The invention of the syrinx is attributed also to Mercury. For poetical
illustrations of Pan see C. 129-138. So also for Nymphs and Satyrs.
In Art. Pan the Hunter (text, Fig. 32) ; the antique. Pan and Daphnis (with the
S3rrinx) in the Museum at Naples. See references above.
44-46. Itwas only in rare instances that mortals returned from Hades. Seethe
stories of Hercules, Orpheus, Ulysses, iEneas. On the tortures of the condemned
and the happiness of the blessed, see 264-257 in The Adventures of -^neas.
Illustrative. Lowell, addressing the Past, says :
Whatever of true life there was in thee
Leaps in our age's veins ; . . .
Here, 'mid the bleak waves of our strife and care
Float the green Fortunate Isles
Where all thy hero-spirits dwell, and share
Our martyrdom and toils ;
The present moves attended
With all of brave and excellent and fair
That made the old time splendid.
I
R484 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Miltoii, Paradise Lost, 3, 568, "Like those Hesperian gardens," etc. See also the
■ame, I, 577 ft.. — "Abhorred Stys, the flood of deadly hate," — where the rivers
of Erebus arc characterized according to the meaning wf their Greek names ; and
L' Allegro, 3. Cbajon: Pope, D unclad, 3, 19; R. C. Kogers, Charon. Elyaium:
Cowper, Progress of Error, Night, "The balm of care, Elysium of the mind";
Milton, Paradise Lost, 3, 472 ; Comus, 257 ; L' Allegro ; Shakespeare, 3 Henty VI,
I, ii ; Cymbeline, V, Iv ; Twelfth Night, I, ii ; Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, vii;
Shelley, To Naples. Letbe: Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, IV, i; Julius C^sar,
III, i ; Hamlet, I, v ; z Henry IV, V, 11 ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 2, 583. Tartarus ;
Milton, Paradise Lost, 2, S5S ; 6, 54.
4T. Interpretatiee. The name Hadea means "the Invisible," or "he who makes
invisible." The meaning of Pluto {fUulDn), according to Plato (Cratylus), is
tetaJei, — the giver of treasure which lies underground. Pluto carries the cornu-
copia, symbol of inexhaustible riches ; but careful discrimination must be observed
between him and Plutus (/Yaa/oj), who is merely an allegorical figure, — a per-
sonification of wealth and nothing more. Bades is called also the Illustrious, the
Many-named, the Benignant, Palydectti or the Hospitable,
Ithutratwe. Milion, L'Allegro, and II Penseroso; Paradise Lost,4, 270; Thomas
Kyd, Spanish Tragedy (Andrea's descent to Hades i — this poem deals eitensively
with the Infernal Regions] ; Shakespeare, 3 Henry IV, II, iv ; Troilus and Cres-
sida, IV, iv; V, ii; Coriolanus, I, iv; Titus Andronicus, IV, ill.
Poems. Buchanan, Ades, King of Hell ; Lewis Morris, Epic of Hades.
it. Proseipina. Not from the Latiix piv-.verfiB, 'to creep forth' (used of herbs
in spring), but from the Greek form Persephone, bringrr of death. The later name
Fberephatta refers to the doves {fhalta), which were sacred to her aa well as (o
Aphrodite. She carries ears of corn as symbol oE vegetation, poppies as symbol
of the sleep of death, the pomegranate as the fruit of the underworld of which
none might partake and return to the light of heaven. Among the Romans
her worship was overshadowed by that of Llbitina, a native deity of the
underworld.
Jlbatratbie. Keats, Melancholy, i; Spenser, Fncrie Queene, i, 2, 2; Milton,
Paradise Lost, 4, 269 ; g, 396.
Poemt. Aubrey De Vere, The Search after Proserpine ; Jean Ingelow, Perse-
phone; Swinburne, Hymns to Proserpine; L. Morris, Persephone (Epic of Hades) ;
D. G. Rossetti, Proserpina. (Also in crayons, in water colors, and in oil.)
In Art. Sinilpture : Eastern pediment of Parthenon frieze. Painting: Lorenzo
Bernini's Pluto and Proserpine; P. Schobelt'a Abduction of Proacrpine.
49. Ttxtual. ()} For /Eacus, son of ^glna, see 61 and C. 190, Table U; for
MInoB and Rhadamanthus, see 59. Somenidea : euphemistic term, meaning the
toell-inUnlioHtd. HeCBte was descended through her father Perses from the
Titans, Creiis and Eurybie ; through her mother Asteria from the Titans. Cceus and
Phcebe. She was therefore, on both sides, the granddaughter of Unrnui aad Gxa.
The following table is based upon Hesiod's account of The Family of Night
ITheogaay.)
COMMENTARY
485
According to other theogonies, the Fates were daughters
of Jove and Themis, and the Hesperides daughters of
Atlas. The story of the true and false Dreams and the horn
and ivory gates (Odyssey, 19, 560) rests on a double play
upon words: (i) i\i<pas [g/epAas), * ivory,* and i\€<f>alpofMt
{elephairomai ), *to cheat with false hope* ; (2) k^/ms {keras)^
horn, and Kpalveiv {kratnein)^ 'to fulfill.* See Mortimer
Collins, The Ivory Gate, a poem.
lUustrative. Hades : Milton, Paradise Lost, 2, 964 ; L.
Morris, Epic of Hades. Styz : Shakespeare, Troilus and
Cressida, V, iv ; Titus Andronicus, I, ii ; Milton, Paradise
Lost, 2, 577 ; Pope, Dunciad, 2, 338. Erebus : Shakespeare,
Merchant of Venice, V, i ; 2 Henry IV, II, iv ; Julius Caesar,
II, i. Cerberus : Spenser, Faerie Queene, i, 11,41 ; Shake-
speare, Love's Labour *s Lost, V, ii ; 2 Henry IV, II, iv ;
Troilus and Cressida, II, i ; Titus Andronicus, II, v ; Max-
well, Tom May's Death; Milton, L* Allegro, 2. Furies:
Milton, Lycidas; Paradise Lost, 2. 597, 671; 6, 859; 10,
620; Paradise Regained, 9, 422; Comus, 641; Dryden,
Alexander's Feast, 6; Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's
Dream, V, i; Richard III, I, iv; 2 Henry IV, V, iii.
Hecate : Shakespeare, Macbeth, IV, i. Sleep and Death :
Shelley, To Night ; H. K. White, Thanatos.
In Art, Vase-painting of Canusium of the Underworld
(text, Fig. 34) ; painting of a Fury by Michelangelo (Uffizi,
Florence) ; also Figs. 35-39 in text.
50-52. See next page for Genealogical Table, Divini-
ties of the Sea.
For stories of the Graeae, Gorgons, Scylla, Sirens,
Pleiades, etc., consult Index.
niustrative. Oceanus : Milton, Comus, 868. Neptune :
Spenser, Faerie Queene, i, 11, 54 ; Shakespeare, Tempest,
I, ii ; Midsummer Night's Dream, II, ii ; Macbeth, II, ii ;
Cymbeline, III, i ; Hamlet, I, i ; Milton, Lycidas ; Paradise
Regained, i, 190 ; Paradise Lost, 9, 18 ; Comus, 869 ; Prior,
Ode on Taking of Namur ; Waller's Panegyric to the Lord
Protector. Panope : Milton, Lycidas, 99.
Harpies. Milton, Paradise Lost, 3, 403. Sirens : Wm.
Morris, Life and Death of Jason — Song of the Sirens.
Scylla and Charybdis (see Index) : Milton, Paradise Lost,
2, 660 ; Arcades, 63 ; Comus, 257 ; Pope, Rape of the Lock,
3, 122. Sirens: Rossetti, A Sea-Spell; A. Lang, "They
hear the Sirens for the second time.**
Naiads. Landor,To Joseph Ablett; Shelley, To Liberty,
O
O
1-1
<
X
H
<
-6
V
I
I?
1-8
a
00
■II
3
"5
M
4
o
Ok)
13
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
S; Spenser, rrmhalamion, 19 ; Milton, Lycidas; Para-
dise Regained, 2, 355 ; Cpmus, 154 ; Buchanan, Naiad
(see lS4)i Drummond of Hawthomden, "Nymphs,
sister nymphs, which haunt this crystal brook. And
happy in these floating bowers abide," etc. ; Pope,
Summer, 7 ; Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health,
" Come, ye Naiads 1 to the fountains lead."
Proteus. Shakespeare, TwoGentlemenof Verona,
I,i; II, ii; ni,ii; IV, iv; Pope, Dunciad, i, 37 i 2.
109. The WaterDeitiesate presented in a masque con-
tained in Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy.
In Art. Poseidon: see text. Figs. 40 and 41
(originals in the British Museum and the Glyptothek,
Munich) ; also the Isthmian Poseidon, Fig. 95.
The Atlas (Graco-Roman sculpture) in National
Museum, Naples ; the Triton in Vatican (text, Fig.
42). Modem painting: J. Van Beers, The Siren;
D. G. Rossetti, The Siren.
Textual. Conaua,£romcDnoW^,'to stowaway.' The
sisters of Caimenta, the forward-looking Antevorta
and the backward-looking Postvorta, were originally
but different aspects of the function of the Muse.
6i. Illustrative. Saturn: Milton, II Penseroso;
Keats, Hyperion ; Pcele, Arraignment of Paris.
Janus, as god of civilization : Dryden. Epistle 10
Congrcve, 7. Fauns: Milton, Lycidus; R. C. Rogers,
The Dancing Faun. See Hawthorne's Marble Faun.
Bellona i Shakespeare, Macbeth, " Bellona's bride-
groom, lapp'd in proof " ; Millou, Paradise Lost, 1,922.
Pomona: Randolph, To Master Anthony Stafford;
Milton, Paradise Lost, 9, 393 ; 5, 378 ; Thomson,
Seasons, Summer, 663. Flora; Milton, Paradise Lost,
5, 16; Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1,4,17; R. H. Stod-
dard, Arcadian Hymn 10 Flora; Pope, Windsor Forest,
JanuB : Jonathan Swift, To Janus, on New Year's
Day, 1726; Bgeria, one of the Camena:; Childe
Harold, 4. 1 1 5-1 20; Tennyson, Palace of Art," Hold-
ing one hand against his ear," etc. Pan, etc. : Milton,
Paradise Lost, 4, 707 ; 4, 329.
In Sculpture. The Satyr, or so-called Faun, of
Prasiieles in the Vatican (text. Fig. 106)! Dancing
Faun (Lateran, Rome); Dancing Faun. Drunken Faun,
Sleeping Faun, and Faun and Bacchui (National
Museum, Naples] ; The Barberini Faun, c
Satyr (Glyptothek, Munich).
COMMENTARY 487
Flora. Painting by Titian (Uffizi, Florence).
66. The first love of Zeus was Metis, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She is
Prudence or Foreknowledge. She warned Zeus that if she bore him a child, it
would be greater than .he. Whereupon Zeus swallowed her ; and, in time, from his
head sprang Athene, " the virgin of the azure eyes, Equal in strength, and as her
father wise " (Hesiod, Theog.). On Latona, see 82, 78, and Commentary.
66. For Danae see 151 ; for Alcmene, 156 ; for Leda, 194.
57. In the following general table of the Race of Inachus (see p. 488), marriages *
are indicated in the usual manner (by the sign =, or by parentheses) ; the more
important characters mentioned in this work are printed in heavy-faced type.
While numerous less important branches, families, and mythical individuals have
been intentionally omitted, it is hoped that this reduction of various relationships,
elsewhere explained or tabulated, to a general scheme, may furnish the reader
with a clearer conception of the family ties that motivate many of the incidents
of mythical adventure, and that must have been commonplaces of information to
those who invented and perpetuated these stories. It should be borne in mind
that the traditions concerning relationships are by no means consistent, and that
consequentiy the collation of mythical genealogies demands the continual exercise
of discretion, and a balancing of probabilities. Notice that from the union of Jupi-
ter and lo (Table D), Hercules is descended in the thirteenth generation.
Inachus is the principal river of Argolis in the Peloponnesus.
Interpretative, lo is explained as the homed moon, in its various changes and
wanderings. Argus is the heaven with its myriad stars, some of them shut, some
blinking, some always agleam. The wand of Hermes and his music may be the
morning breeze, at the coming of which the eyes of heaven close (Cox, 2, 138 ;
Preller 2, 40). The explanation would, however, be just as probable if Mercury
(Hermes) were a cloud-driving wind. Pan and the Syrinx : naturally the wind
playing through the reeds, if (with MuUer and Cox) we take Pan to be the all-
purifying, but yet gentle, wind. But see p. 181.
lUustratioe. Shelley, To the Moon, ** Art thou pale for weariness Of climb-
ing heaven and gazing on the earth. Wandering companionless Among the
stars that have a different birth ? " Milton's ** To behold the wandering moon.
Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray. Through the
heaven's wide pathless way " (II Penseroso). See also for lo, Shelley's Prometheus
Bound. Argus: Milton, Paradise Lost, 11, 131 ; Pope, Dunciad, 2, 374; 4, 637.
In Art. Fig. 47 in the text, from a wall-painting of Herculaneum (Museum,
Naples). Correggio's painting, Jupiter and lo ; not a pleasant conception.
58. Interpretative. The myth of Callisto and Areas is of Arcadian origin. If
the Arcadians, in very remote times, traced their descent from a she-bear, and if
they also, like other races, recognized a bear in a certain constellation, they
might naturally mix the fables and combine them later with the legend of the all-
powerful Zeus (Lang, 2, 181). According to another account, Callisto was punished
for her love of Jupiter by Diana (Artemis). Her name has been identified with
the adjective Callisie^ * most fair,' which was certainly applied to Artemis herself.
That Artemis was protectress of she-bears is known ; also that, vcv K^x^-a.^ ^^^^A-as.
488
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
X
oi
PQ
H
M
Q
c/)
D
U
z
fa
o
u
X
H
OQ
H
§
ft »
" 1
-o — 9*-
- a
c
a
II
a
II-
-1
;3
2-1 II
Ph — o
.a
I— a
<
M
dli
COMMENTARY
489
served by g^rls who imitated, while dancing, the gait of bears. It is quite possible,
therefore, that Artemis inherited a more ancient worship of the bear that may
have been the totem, or sacred animal, from which the Arcadians traced a mytho-
logical descent. Others hold that the word arksha, * a star,* became confused with
the Greek arktos, *a bear.' So the myth of the son Areas (the star and the bear)
may have arisen (Max Miiller). The last star in the tail of the Little Bear is the
Polestar, or Cynosure (dog's tail).
Illustrative, Milton's ** Let my lamp, at midnight hour, Be seen in some high
lonely tower. Where I may oitoutwatch the Bear** (II Penseroso) ; and his " Where
perhaps some beauty lies The cynosure of neighbouring eyes " (L' Allegro) ;
also his " And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, Or Tyrian Cynosure " (Comus).
Note Lowell's " The Bear, that prowled all night about the fold Of the North-star,
hath shrunk into his den " (Prometheus). See also the song beginning, " Hear ye,
ladies, that despise What the mighty Love had done," in Beaumont and Fletcher's
drama, Valentinian, — for Callisto, Leda, and Danae.
59. The Descendants of Agenor. For further details, see Table D.
Mars = Venus
Table E
Agenor
Harmonia = Cadmus
Buropa = Jupiter
Phoenix
Cilix
Minos
Rhadamanthus
Sarpedon
I
Semele = Jupiter
I
Bacchus
Ino = Athamas
I
Melicertes
AutonoS = Aristaeus
I
Actaeon
Agave
Pentneus
Polydonis
Labaacus
I
Laius
CEdipus
(royal family of Thebes)
Textual. Moschus lived about the close of the third century B.C. in Syracuse.
He was a grammarian and an idyllic poet. He calls himself a pupil of Bion, —
whose Lament for Adonis is given in 100. Both Bion and Moschus belong to the
School of Theocritus — the Idyllic or Pastoral School of Poetry. C3rpris : Venus,
by whom the island of Cyprus was beloved. Mygdonian flutes : the ancients had
three species or modes of music, depending, respectively, upon the succession
of musical intervals which was adopted as the basis of the system. The Lydian
measures were shrill and lively ; the Dorian deep in tone, grave, and solemn ; the
Mygdonian, or Phrygian, were supposed by some to have been the same as the
Lydian, but more probably they were a combination of Lydian and Dorian.
Shaker of the World : Neptune. Crete : where Jupiter had been concealed from
his father Cronus, and nourished by the goat Amalthea.
Interpretative. Herodotus says that Europa was a historical princess of T3rre,
carried off by Hellenes to Crete. Taurus (the bull) was euhemeristically conceived
to be a king of Crete who carried off the Tyrian princess as prize of war. Others
490 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
said that probably the figurehead of the ship in which Europa was conveyed to
Crete was a bull. It is not improbable that the story indicates a settlement of
Phoenicians in Crete and the introduction by them of cattle. Modem critics, such
as Preller and Welcker, make Europa a goddess of the moon = Diana or Astarte,
and translate her name ** the dark, or obscured one." But she has undoubtedly a
connection with the earth, perhaps as wife of Jupiter (the Heaven). H. D. Miiller
connects both lo and Europa with the wandering Demeter (or Ceres), and con-
siders Demeter to be a goddess both of the moon and of the earth (Helbig, in
Roscher). Cox, after his usual method, finds here the Dawn borne across the
heaven by the lord of the pure ether. Europa would then be the broad-spreading
flush of dawn, seen first in the purple region of morning (Phoenicia). Her brother
Cadmus, who pursues her, would be the sun searching for his lost sister or bride.
Very fanciful, but inconclusive. The bull occurs not infrequently in myth as an
incarnation of deity.
lUustratwe, W. S. Landor, Europa and her Mother; Aubrey De Vere, The
Rape of Europa; E. Dowden, Europa; W.W.Story, Europa (a sonnet). See also
a graceful picture in Tennyson's Palace of Art.
In Art, Fig. 48, in text, from vase found at Cumae ; the marble group in the
Vatican, Europa riding the Bull; painting by Paolo Veronese, The Rape of
Europa; Europa, by Claude Lorrain.
60. See Tables D and E.
Interpretative. According to Preller, Semele is a personification of the fertile
soil in spring, which brings forth the productive vine. In the irrational part of
the myth, Jove takes the child Dionysus (Bacchus), after Semele's death, and sews
him up in his thigh for safe-keeping. Preller finds here ** the wedlock of heaven
and earth, the first day that it thunders in March." Exactly why, might be easy
to guess, but hard to demonstrate. The thigh of Jupiter would have to be the cool
moist clouds brooding over the youthful vine. The whole explanation is altogether
too conjectural. See A. Lang's Myth, Ritual, etc., 2, 221-225, for a more plausible
but less poetic theory.
Ittustrative, Milton, Paradise Regained, 2, 187 ; Bowring's translation of
Schiller's Semele; E. R. Sill, Semele, of which a part is given in the text
In Art. Fig. 50, in text
61. Textual. The son of JEginsL and Jove was iEacus (for genealogy, see
Table O (i) ). JBgina : an island in the Saronic Gulf, between Attica and Argolis.
Asopus : the name of two rivers, one in Achaia, one in Boeotia, of which the
latter is the more important. The Greek traveler, Pausanias, tells us that Asopus
was the discoverer of the river which bears his name. Sia3rpha8| see 255. This
description of the plague is copied by Ovid from the account which Thucydides
gives of the plague of Athens. That account, much fuller than is here given, was
drawn from life and has been the source from which many subsequent poets and
novelists have drawn details of similar scenes. The M3rn]iidO]is were, during the
Trojan War, the soldiers of Achilles, grandson of this king JEacub.
COMMENTARY 49 1
Interpretative. The name JBgina may imply either the shore on which the
waves break (Preller), or the sacred goat {.^eus) which was the totem of
the Mgeus family of Attica. The worship of Athene was introduced into Athens .
by this family. In sacrifices the goddess was clad in the skin of the sacred goat,
but no goat might be sacrificed to her. Probably another example of the survival
of a savage ritual (Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., i, 280).
JUustrative. Myrmidons:
No, no, said Rhadamant, it were not well.
With loving souls to place a martialist ;
He died in war, and must to martial fields,
Where wounded Hector lives in lasting pain.
And Achilles' Myrmidons do scour the plain.
Kyd, Spanish Tragedy
On Sisyphus, read Lewis Morris* poem in The Epic of Hades.
62. Textual, Maenad : the Maenades, from fialvofiai (mamomai), Uo rage,' were
women who danced themselves into a frenzy in the orgies or festivals of Bacchus.
Cithseron : a mountain range south of Thebes and between Boeotia and Attica.
Interpretative. Antiope, philologically interpreted, may indicate the moon with
face turned full upon us. That Antiope is a personification of some such natural
phenomena would also appear from the significance of the names associated with
hers in the myth : Nycteus, the night-man ; Lycus, the fftan of light. Amphion
and Zethus are thought, in like fashion, to represent manifestations of light ; see
also Castor and Pollux. Perhaps the method employed by Zethus and Amphion
in building Thebes may merely symbolize the advantage of combining mechanical
force with well-ordered or harmonious thought.
In Art: The Famese Bull group (text, opp. p. 74) : marble, maybe by Tauris-
cus and Tralles, in Naples Museum. Fig. 51 : a relief in the Palazzo Spada,
Rome. Modem painting : Correggio*s Antiope.
68. Textual. Phrygia : a province in Asia Minor. For Minerya's protection
of the olive, see 65. Tyana is a town in Cappadocia, Asia Minor.
64. Textual. Argos : the capital of Argolis in the Peloponnesus. Of Cydippe,
it is told, in Ovid's Heroides and elsewhere, that, when a g^rl sacrificing in the
temple of Diana in Delos, she was seen and loved by a youth, Acontius. He
threw before her an apple, on which these words were inscribed, " I swear by the
sanctuary of Diana to marry Acontius." The maiden read aloud the words and
threw the apple away. But the vow was registered by Diana, who, in spite of many
delays, brought about the marriage of Cydippe and her unknown lover. Polyclitus
the Elder, of Argos, lived about 431 B.C., and was a contemporary of two other
great sculptors, Phidias and Myron. His greatest work was the chryselephantine
statue of Hera for her temple between Argos and Mycenae.
Ubistrative. Beside Gosse*s Sons of Cydippe, see verses by L. J. Richard-
son, in The Inlander, Ann Arbor, Vol. 2, p. 2. For the story of Acontius and
Cydippe, se§ William Morris* Earthly Paradise; and Lytton's Cydippe, or The
Apples, in The Lost Tales of Miletus.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
I
ft Art. The severe design in clay by Teignmouth, of which prints may be
obtained, was made Co Illustrate Gosse's poem.
■86. Textual. For Cecrops, see 174. He named the city that he founded
Cecropia, — a name which afterwards clutig to Athena. For ao excellent descrip-
tion of ancient weaving, see Catullus, LXIV, 304-333 (The Peleua and Thetis). For
translation, see 191. Leda, mother of Castor, Pollux, Helen, and Ciytemneatia
(see 194 and Commentary). Danae, mother of Feiseus (see ISl).
Interpretatiot. The waves were the coursers of Neptune, — the horaeswith which
he scours the strand. Aiachne; a princess of Lydia. It is probable that the myth
symbolizes the competition in products of the loom between Attica and J
Minor and the superior handicraft of the Athenian weavers.
UlustTative. Atachne: Shakespeare, Troiiua and Cressida, V, ii; Fope, Uun-
ciad, 4, ;go. Poem: Garrick, Upon a Lady's Embroidery.
In Art. Fig. 5:, in text : from a vase in Pelrograd.
08. Ttxtaal. Dionede: for his genealogy, see Table K. Taaleta: armor wi
about the thighs. Cyprian: Venus. Paan (P^on, or Paieonl. classed by Hor
among the Olympian gods, of whom he is, as his name implies, the " heale
Later, the name was applied to yEsculapius, dien to any god who might repair
or avert evil of any kind, as, for instance, to Apollo and to Thanatos (Death).
See Armstrong's Art oi Health, " So P^an, so the powers of Health command,"
etc, and " the wise of ancient days Adored one power of physic, melody, and
song." Psana were chants in honor of Apollo, sung to deprecate misfortune in
battle or to avert disease. Lower than tbe sous of Heareo: lower than the
Titans, sons of Uranus (Heaven), who were plunged into Tartarus.
S&. Ttxtaal. Lessing points out in his I.aacoon the skill with which Homer,
stating the size of the stone hurled by Minerva and the measure of the space
covered by Mars, suggests the gigantic proportions of the warring divinities,
TO. Terhiirf. Family of CadmiiB : see Tables D and E. Caatalian Cave of
Mount Parnassus, Fhoeis ; here was the famous Delphic oracle of Apollo. Ceptlia-
suB : a river running through Doris, Phocis, and liceotia into the Euboian Gulf',
the valley of the Cephissus was noted for its fertility. Panope: a town on
Cephissus. Tjniians : Cadmus and his followers came from Tyre in Phoen
The Necklace of Hannonia was a fateful gift. It brought evil Co whomsoevi
belonged : to all the descendants of Cadroua ; to Eriphyle. wife of Amphiaraii
Argos, lo whom I'olynices gave it; and to the sons of Eriphyle. It was finally
dedicaled to Apollo in Delphi. Harmonia's robe possessed the same fatality,
187, 189. Encheliaos: a people of lllyria. ?'or the myths of Semele, see SO;
of Ino, 144 ; of Autonoe and her son, Aitaon, Sfi ; of Agan and her son, Pen-
tli«ua, 112) of PoljdoruB, the Labdacldae, (Bdipus, etc., 182. Eight yeais: Ihc
usual period of penance. Apollo, after slaying the Python, had to clear himself of
defilement by a period of purification,
Interprttatiix. Cadmus aod hla Tyrians : according to the usual explanation,
ihii myth ii based upon an immigration of Phcenicians, who settled Bceotia ai
^ve laws, the rudiments of culture (alphabet, etc.), and Industrial axt« to the old
COMMENTARY 493
races of Greece. Many Theban names, such as Melicertes, Cadmus, point to a
possible Phoenician origin; cf. Semitic Melkarth, and Kedem, the East, But
Preller holds that two mythical personages, a Greek Cadmus and a Phoenician
Cadmus, have been confounded ; that the Theban Cadmus is merely the repre-
sentative of the oldest Theban state ; that the selection of the spot on which a
heifer had lain down was a frequent practice among settlers, superstitious about
the site of their new town ; that the dragon typifies the cruel and forbidding nature
of the uncultivated surroundings ; and that the story of the dragon's teeth was
manufactured to flatter the warlike spirit of the Thebans, the teeth themselves
being spear points.
Harmonia, daughter of the patron deities of Thebes^ is the symbol of the peace
and domesticity that attend the final establishment of order in the State.
According to the Sun-and-Cloud theory of Cox, Cadmus, the Sun, pursues his
sister, Europa, the broad-flushing light of Dawn, who has been carried off on a
spotless cloud (the Bull). The Sun, of course, must journey farther west than
Crete. The heifer that he is to follow is, therefore, still another cloud (like the
cattle of the Sun, — clouds). The dragon of Mars is still a third cloud; and this
the Sun dissipates. A storm follows, after which new conflicts arise between the
clouds that have sprung up from the moistened earth (the harvest of armed men I).
This kind of explanation, indiscriminately indulged, delights the fancy of the
inventor and titillates the risibles of the reader.
Illustratwe. Milton, Paradise Lost, 9, 506. The serpent that tempted Eve com-
pared with the serpents Cadmus and ** Hermione." See Byron, Don Juan, 3, 86,
" You have the letters Cadmus gave — Think you he meant them for a slave ? "
In Art. Fig. 54, in text : from a vase in the Naples Museum. Fig. 55 is of a
vase-painting from Eretria.
71. Textual. Eurynome is represented by some as one of the Titans, the wife
of Ophion. Ophion and Eurynome, according to one legend, ruled over heaven
before the age of Saturn (Cronus). So Milton, Paradise Lost, 10, 580, **And
fabled how the Serpent, whom they called Ophion, with Euryndme (the wide-
Encroaching Eve perhaps), had first the rule Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn
driven." According to Vulcan's statement (Iliad, 18), Eurynome was daughter of
Oceanus and Tethys. She was mother, by Jupiter, of the Graces. Thetis : see 50.
Xanthus : the principal river of Lycia in Asia Minor.
72-78. Interpretative. Latona (Leto) : according to Homer, one of the deities
of Olympus ; a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, whose names indicate
phenomena of radiant light. She belonged, perhaps, to an ancient theogony of
Asia Minor. At any rate she held at one time the rank of lawful wife to Zeus.
Preller and, after him, Cox take Leto as tAe dusk or darkness. Cox traces the
word to the root of Lethe (the forgetful), but Preller is doubtful. Possibly Leto
and Leda, the mother of the bright Castor and Pollux, have something in com-
mon. The wanderings of Latona may be the weary journey of the night over the
mountain tops, both before and after the Sun (Apollo) is born in Del6s (the land
of Dawn).
»94
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
^p9^
^^m niustratiae. Milton, Arcades, lo, and Sonnet XII, " On the detraction which
^^H followed upon my writing certain tif atiaes,"
^^r 74. T'extjiat. HypetboreAUS ; those who dwell in the land beyond the North.
Pxan, see C. 6S. Tityus : an earthbom giant ; condemned to the underworld, he
lay stretched over nine acres while two vultures devoured his li
Interpretutwe, Python : in many savage myths, a serpent, a frog, or a liiard
that drinks up all the waters, and is destroyed by some national hero
As Mr. Lang says : " Whether the slaying of [be Python was or was not originally
an allegory of the defeat of winter by sunlight, it certainly, at a very early period,
became mixed up with ancient legal ideas and local traditions. It is almost as
necessary for a young god or hero to slay monsters as for a young lady lo be pre-
sented at court; and we may hesitate to explain all these legends of a useful feal
of courage as nature myths" (Myth. Kitual, etc., 2, 196). Compare the feats of
Hercules, Jason, Bellerophon, Perseus, St. George and the Dragon, Sigurd, and
Jack the Giant Killer. Commentators take Python to be the rigor of w
darkness of night, or a " black storm-cloud which shuts up the waters " (Cox). It
is not impossible that the Python was the sacred snake of an older animal worship
• superseded by that of Apollo. (See also C. 38.)
7S. Textual. The Tyrian hue is purple, made from the juice of the mum, or
purple shellfish. On the leaves of the hyacinth were inscribed characters like
Ai, Ai, the Greek eiclamation of woe. It is evidently not our modem hyacinth
that is here described, but perhaps some species of iris, or of larkspur, or pansy-
The meaning of the name is also uncertain, but the best authorities favor j-pk**-
fui. A festival called the Hyacinthia was celebrated, in commemoration of the
myth, over a large part of the Peloponnesus. It lasted three days, probably in the
Erst half of July, It consisted of chants of lamentation and fasting during the
first and last days; during the second day, of processions, a horse race, joyous
choral songs, dances, feasting, and sacrifice.
IHtterpretative, Most scholars consider Hyacintbus to be the personification
ilf the blooming vegetation of spring, which withers under the heals of summer.
The Hyacinlhian festival seems to have celebrated — like the Linus festival and
the Eleusinian — the transitory nature of life and (be hope of immortality.
lUuitratwe. Keats, Endymion, " Pitying the sad death Of Hyacinth us. when the
cool breath Of Zephyr slew him " (see conteil) ; Milton, Lycidas, " Like to thai
sanguine flower inscribed with woe" ; On the Death of a Fair Infant, 4.
In Art, Fig. 5S. in test, is of a marble group in the Hope Collection.
76. Textual. Clymene : a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. ChiyHlite : or
geld stoKt, our topaz. Daystat: Phosphor, see 3S (11), Ambrosia {iti&fiBim,
i/ippoToi, i'^parin), immnria/, — here, " food for the immortals." Turn Off to the
left: indicating the course of the sun, west by south. The Serpent, or Dragon:
a constellation between the Great and Little Bears. BoiiteB : the cnnslcllalion
called the Wagoner, The limits of the Scoipion were restricted by the ii
:he sign. of the Scales, j
jIbb south of Macedoni
COMMENTARY 495
Lydia. Mount (Ete : between Thessaly and iEtolia, where Hercules ascended his
funeral pile. Ida : the name of two mountains, — one in Crete, where Jupiter was
nurtured by Amalthea, the other in Phrygia, near Troy. Mount Helicon: in
Boeotia, sacred also to Apollo. Mount Hsemus: in Thrace. JBtna: in Sicily.
Parnassus : in Phocis ; one peak was sacred to Apollo, the other to the Muses.
The Castalian Spring, sacred to the Muses, is at the foot of the mountain ; Delphi
is near by. Rhodope : part of the Haemus range of mountains. Scythia : a gen-
eral designation of Europe and Asia north of the Back Sea. Caucasus : between
the Black and Caspian seas. Mount Ossa : associated with Mount Pelion in the
story of the giants, who piled one on top of the other in their attempt to scale
Olympus. These mountains, with Pindus, are in Thessaly. Libyan desert: in
Africa. Libya was fabled to have been the daughter of Epaphus, king of Egypt.
Tanals : the Don, in Scythia. Calcus : a river of Greater Mysia, flowing into the
sea at Lesbos. Xanthus and Masander : rivers of Phrygia, flowing near Troy.
Cayster : a river of Ionia, noted for its so-called ** tuneful " swans. For Nereus,
Doris, Nereids, etc., see 50 and 52. Eridanus : the mythical name of the river
Po in Italy (amber was found on its banks). Naiads, see 52 (6).
Interpretative. Apollo assumed many of the attributes of Helios, the older
divinity of the sun, who is ordinarily reputed to be the father of Phaethon (ordi-
narily anglicized Phaeton). The name Phaethon^ like the name Phcebus, means
the radiant one. The sun is called both Helios Phaethon and Helios Phoebus
in Homer. It was an easy feat of the imagination to make Phaethon the incautious
son of Helios, or Apollo, and to suppose that extreme drought is caused by his
careless driving of his father's chariot The drought is succeeded by a thunder-
storm ; and the lightning puts an end to Phaethon. The rain that succeeds the
lightning is, according to Cox, the tears of the Heliades. It is hardly wise to press
the analogy so far, unless one is prepared to explain the amber in the same way.
Illustrative. Milman in his Samor alludes to the story. See also Chaucer, Hous
of Fame, 435 ; Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1,4, 9 ; Shakespeare, Richard II, III,
iii; Two Gentlemen of Verona,' III, i; 3 Henry VI, I, iv; II, vi; Romeo and
Juliet, III, ii. Poems: Prior, Female Phaeton; J. G. Saxe, Phaeton; and G.
Meredith, Phaeton. For description of the palace and chariot of the Sun, see
Landor, Gebir, Bk. i.
In Art: Fig. 59, in text : a relief on a Roman sarcophagus in the Louvre.
77. Textual, For the siege of Troy, see Chap. XXII. Atrides (Atreides) : the
son of Atreus, Agamemnon. The ending -ides means son of, and is used in patro-
nymics; for instance, Pelides (Peleides), Achilles; Tydides, Diomede, son of
Tydeus. The ending -/j, in patronymics, means daughter of; as Tyndaris, daughter
of Tyndarus (Tyndareus), Helen ; ChryseYs, daughter of Chryses.
InterpretatiDe, Of this incident Gladstone, in his primer on Homer, says:
** One of the greatest branches and props of morality for the heroic age lay in
the care of the stranger and the poor. . . . Sacrifice could not be substituted for
duty, nor could prayer. Such, upon the abduction of Chryseis, was the reply of
Calchas the Seer : nothing would avail but restitution.''
496 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
78. The Dynasty of Tantalus and its Connections. (See also Table I.)
Table F
Jupiter
r
Atlas
I
1
Jupiter s= Antiope
Tantalus = Dione Mars = Sterope II
(k. of Phrygia) |
I CEnomaiis
I I
Amphio]i=Niobe
7 sons and 7 daughters
Pelops = Hippodamia
Minos II
I
Agamemnon
ASrope = Atreus
I
Menelatls
z? —
Thyestes
iEgisthus
1
Pittheus
(k. of Troezen)
MtHara, = JEgtaa
Theseus
Pelops. It is said that the goddess Demeter in a fit of absent-mindedness ate
the shoulder of Pelops. The part was replaced in ivory when Pelops was restored
to life. Mount Cynthus : in Delos, where Apollo and Diana were born.
Interpretatiue. Max MUller derives Niobe from the root snu, or sni£^A, from
which come the words for snow in the Indo-European languages. In Latin and
Greek, the stem is JVt'vt hence Nib, Niobe. The myth, therefore, would signify
the melting of snow and the destruction of its icy offspring under the rays of the
spring sun (Sci. Relig. 372). According to Homer (IHad, 24, 611), there were six
sons and six daughters. After their death no one could bury them, since all who
looked on them were turned to stone. The burial was, accordingly, performed on
the tenth day after the massacre, by Jupiter and the other gods. This petrifaction
of the onlookers may indicate the operation of the frost Cox says that Niobe,
the snow, compares her golden-tinted, wintry mists or clouds with the splendor
of the sun and moon. Others look upon the myth as significant of the withering
of spring vegetation under the heats of summer (Preller). The latter explanation
is as satisfactory, for spring is the child of winter (Niobe).
IBustrative, Pope, Dunciad, 2, 311; Lewis Morris, Niobe on Sipylus (Songs
Unsung) ; Byron's noble stanza on fallen Rome, " The Niobe of nations ! there
she stands. Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe," etc. (Childe Harold,
4, 79) ; W. S. Landor, Niobe ; Frederick Tennyson, Niobe. On Tantalus, see Lewis
Morris, Tantalus, in The Epic of Hades. On Sir Richard Blackmore, a physician
and poor poet, Thomas Moore writes the following stanza :
T was in his carriage the sublime
Sir Richard Blackmore used to rhyme,
And, if the wits don't do him wrong,
Twixt death and epics passed his time,
Scribbling and killing all day long ;
Like Phcebus in his car at ease,
Now waibling forth a lofty song.
Now murdering the young Niobes.
COMMENTARY 497
In Art. The restoration of the statue of Niobe, Mount Sipylus ; of extreme
antiquity. The Petrograd relief (see Fig. 61, in text) is probably the best group.
Figs. 60 and 62 are from the ancient marbles in the Uffizi, Florence. The frag-
ments of the latter group were discovered in 1 583 near the Porta San Giovanni,
Rome. The figure of the mother, clasping the little girl who has run to her in
terror, is one of the most admired of the ancient statues. It ranks with the
Laocoon and the Apollo Belvedere among the masterpieces of art. The following
is a translation of a Greek epigram supposed to relate to this statue :
To stone the gods have changed her, but in vain ;
The sculptor's art has made her breathe again.
There is also a fine figure of a daughter of Niobe in the Vatican, Rome; and there
are figures in the Louvre. Reinach in his Apollo attributes the originals to Scopas.
79. Interpretative, The month in which the festival of Linus took place was
called the Lambs' Month : the days were the Lambs' Days, on one of which was
a massacre of dogs. According to some, Linus was a minstrel, son of Apollo and
the Muse Urania, and the teacher of Orpheus and Hercules.
80. Centaurs. Monsters represented as men from the head to the loins, while
the remainder of the body was that of a horse. Centaurs are the only monsters of
antiquity to which any good traits were assigned. They were admitted to the
companionship of men. Chiron was the wisest and justest of the Centaurs. At
his death he was placed by Jupiter among the stars as the constellation Sagittarius
(the Archer). Messenia: in the Peloponnesus. JEsculapius : there were numerous
oracles of ^tsculapius, but the most celebrated was at Epidaurus. Here the sick
sought responses and the recovery of their health by sleeping in the temple. It
has been inferred from the accounts that have come down to us that the treatment
of the sick resembled what is now called animal magnetism or mesmerism.
Serpents were sacred to ^sculapius, probably because of a superstition that
those animals have a faculty of renewing their youth by a change of skin. The
worship of ^tsculapius was introduced into Rome in a time of great sickness. An
embassy, sent to the temple of Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god, was pro-
pitiously received ; and on the return of the ship i^sculapius accompanied it in
the form of a serpent. Arriving in the river Tiber, the serpent glided from the
vessel and took possession of an island, upon which a temple was soon erected
to his honor.
Interpretative. The healing powers of nature may be here symbolized. But it
is more likely that the family of Asclepiadae (a medical clan) invented Asklepios
as at once their ancestor and the son of the god of healing, Apollo.
Illustrative. Milton, Paradise Lost, 9, 506; Shakespeare, Pericles, III, ii;
Merry Wives, II, iii.
In Art. ^sculapius (sculpture), Vatican ; also the statue in the Uffizi, Flor-
ence (text, Fig. 63). Thorwaldsen's (sculpture) Hygea (Health) and ^tsculapius,
Copenhagen.
81. Interpretative. Perhaps the unceasing and unvarying round of the sun led
to the conception of him as a servant. Max Miiller cites the Peruvian Inca wKq
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
said that if the sun were free, like fire, he would visit new parts of the heaveni
" He is," said the Inca, " like a tied beast who goes ever round and round in the
same track" (Chips, etc., z, 113). Nearly all Greek heroes had to undergo servitude,
^Hercules, Perseus, etc. No stories are more beautiful or more lofty than those
which express the hope, innate in the human heart, that
time some god has lived as a man among men and for the good of men. Such
stories are not confined to the Greeks or the Hebrews.
Utastratiot. R. Browning, Apollo and the Fates ; Edith M. Thomas. Apollo lh»
Shepherd ; Emma Lazarus, Admetus ; W. M. W. Call, Admetus.
83. Textual. Alcestis was a daughter of the Felias who was killed at the insti-
daughter of Cer
0 part. For her family,
:ek fable, and ranked with
liece. To explain the myth
; likely that the idea of
f atonement by sacr
of CEdipus at Colonus (1B6), " For one soul work-
le." Eort (the
gation of Medea (16T). In that affair Alcestis took n
Table G. She was held in the highest honor in Gr
Penelope and I.aodamia, the latter of whom was her n
as a physical allegory would be easy, but is it not m<
subititution finds expression in the myth ? — that idea
which is suggested in the '
ing in the strength of love Is mightier than ten thousa
cs) : Proserpina. Larissa : a city of Thessaly, on the 1
. Milton's sonnet. On his Deceased Wife;
Methought I saw my late espoused saint
Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave,
Whom Jove's great son to het glad husband gave,
Rescued from death by force, though pole and faint.
Chaucer, Legende of Good Women, 20S etseq. ; Court of Love (?), n
Petms. Robert Browning's noble poem, Balaustion's Adventure,
be a paraphrase of the Alcestis of Euripides, but while it maintains
spirit, it is in execution an original poem. The Love of Alcestis, by William.
Morris; Mrs, Hemans, The Alcestis of Alfieri, and The Death Song of Alcestisj
W. S. Landor, Hercules. Pluto, Alcestis, and Admetus ; Alcestis : F. T. Palgravei
W. M. W. Call, John Todhunter (a drama). ^™
la Art. Fig. 64, in text, Naples Museum ; also the relief on a Roman
agus in the Vatican.
H, Textual. This Laomedon was descended, through Dardanus (the forefather
of the Trojan race), from Jupiter and the Pleiad Electra. For further infonnaliog
about him, see 119, 181, and Table I.
Interpretative. Apollo evidently fulfills, under Laomedon, his function as god
of colonisation.
88-86. Textual. For Pan, sec43; for Tmolus, 76. Peneiis : a river in Thessaly,
which rises in Mount Pindua and flows through the wooded valley of Tempe.
Dfedal; variously adorned, variegated. Midas was king of Phrygia (see 118).
IBiutrathie. The story of King Midas has been told by others with ■>
variations. Dryden, in the Wife of Bath's Tale, makes Midas' queen the betnyet
of the secret:
rsofst
COMMENTARY 499
87. lOustratioe. M. Arnold, Empedocles (Song of Callicles) ; L. Morris,
Marsyas, in The Epic of Hades ; Edith M. Thomas, Marsyas ; E. Lee-Hamilton,
Apollo and Marsyas.
In Art. Raphael's drawing, Apollo and Marsyas (Museum, Venice) ; Bordone's
Apollo, Marsyas, and Midas (Dresden) ; 'the Graeco-Roman sculpture, Marsyas
(Louvre) ; Marsyas (or Dancing Faun), in the Lateran, Rome.
89. Textual. Daphne was a sister of Cyrene, another sweetheart of Apollo's
(145). Delphi, in Phocis, and Tenedos, an island off the coast of Asia Minor,
near Troy, were celebrated for their temples of Apollo. The latter temple was
sacred to Apollo Smintheus, the Mouse-Apollo, probably because he had rid
that country of mice as St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes and toads. Dido : queen
of Carthage (252), whose lover, JEnesLS, sailed away from her.
Interpretative. Max Miiller's explanation is poetic though not philolog^cally
probable. ** Daphne, or Ahand, means the Dawn. There is first the appearance
of the dawn in the eastern sky, then the rising of the sun as if hurrying after his
bride, then the gradual fading away of the bright dawn at the touch of the fiery
rays of the sun, and at last her death or disappearance in the lap of her mother,
the earth." The word Daphne also means, in Greek, a laurel; hence the legend
that Daphne was changed into a laurel tree (Sci. Relig., 378, 379). Others con-
strue Daphne as the lightning. It is, however, very probable that the Greeks of
the myth-making age, finding certain plants and flowers sacred to Apollo, would
invent stories to explain why he preferred the laurel, the hyacinth, the sunflower,
etc. " Such myths of metamorphoses " are, as Mr. Lang says, ** an universal growth
of savage fancy, and spring from a want of a sense of difference between men
and things " (Myth, Ritual, etc., 2, 206).
lUustratioe. Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, II, ii; Taming of the
Shrew, Induction ii; Troilus and Cressida, I, i; Milton, Comus, 59,662; Hymn on
the Nativity, IL 176-180, Vacation, 33-40 ; Paradise Lost, 4, 268-275; Paradise Re-
gained, 2, 187 ; Lord de Tabley (Wm. Lancaster), Daphne, '* All day long. In devi-
ous forest. Grove, and fountain side. The god had sought his Daphne," etc. ; Lyly,
King Mydas ; Apollo's Song to Daphne ; Frederick Tennyson, Daphne. Waller
applies this story to the case of one whose amatory verses, though they did not
soften the heart of his mistress, yet won for the poet widespread fame :
Yet what he sung in his immortal strain,
Though unsuccessful, was not simg in vain.
All but the nymph that should redress his wrong.
Attend his passion and approve his song.
Like Phoebus thus, acquiring imsought praise,
He caught at love and filled his arms with bays.
In Art. Fig. 67, in text ; Bernini's Apollo and Daphne, in the Villa Borghese,
Rome (see text, opp. p. 112). Painting: G. F. Watts' Daphne.
91. ntustrative. Hood, Flowers, *' 1 will not have the mad Clytia, Whose head
is turned by the sun," etc. ; W. W. Story, Clytie ; Mrs. A. Fields, Clytia. The so-
called bust of Clytie (discovered not long ago) is possibly a representation of I&v%.
500 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
93. Textual. Elis: northwestern p:irt of ihe Peloponnesus, Alpbefla:
river of Elis flowing to the Mediterranean. The river Alpheiis does in £
disappear under ground, in paxt of i
n channels, till it again appears or
fountain Arethusa was the same stream
up again in Sicily. Hence the story
appeared again in the Arelhusa. It is
e of Alpheiis that Coleridge has ii
finding its way through subtel
the surface. It was said that the Sicilii
which, after passing under the sea, can
an thiit a cup thrown into the Alphei
possibly, this fable of the undergroui
mind in his dream of Kubla Khan:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A Btslely pleaaure-doine decree :
Down 10 a sunless sea.
s he alludes to the practice of throwing gl
stream of Alpheiis, to be carried dawnwa
t its emerging, "as an offering To lay
In one of Moore's juvenile poen
lands or other light objects on the
by it, and afterward reproduced a
Arethusa's feet."
The Acioceraunian UountainB are in Epirus in the northern part of Greed
I is hardly necessary to point Out that a river Arethusa arising there could n
possibly be approached by an Alpheiis of the Peloponnesus. Such a criticism
Shelley's sparkling verses would however be pedantic rather than just, Probabt
Shelley uses the word Acmcfraunian as synonymous with stop, daHgerous. If »
he had the practice of Ovid behind him (Remedium Amoria, 739}, Mount Ei]
manttma : between Arcadia and Achaia, The Dorian deep: the Feloponnesi]
( inhabited by descendants of the fabulous Dorus. Enna: a city in the ce
of Sicily. Ortysia : an island on which part of the city of Syracuse is built.
jntatratioe. Milton, Arcades, 30; Lycidas, 132; Margaret J. Preston, The Fligt
of Arethusa; Keats, Endymion, Bk. 1, "On either side outgushed, with n
spray, A copious spring,"
96, See genealogical table E for Acteeon. In this mph Preller finda anoihe
allegory of the baleful influence of the dog days upon those exposed to the hea
Cox's theory that here we have large masses of cloud which, having dared to loo
upon the clear sky, are torn to pieces and scattered by the winds, is principal)
instructive as illustrating how far afield theorists have gone, and how easy it is f
invent ingenious explanations.
nhatratitx. Shakespeare, Merry Wives, II, i ; III, ti; Titus Andronicus, II, iv
Shelley, Adonais, 31, " Midst others of less note, came one frail Form," etc.,
touching allusion to himself; A, H. Clough, Actzon; L. Morris, Actxon (Epi
of Hades).
96. Chios: an island in the .lilgeBn, Lemnos: another island in the JV.gf
where Vulcan had a forge,
Inttrpntatiot. The ancients were wont lo glorify in table constellations t
remarkable brilliancy or form. The heavenly adventures of Oiion are sufficicr
explained by Ihe text
COMMENTARY 501
Illustrative. Spenser, Faerie Queene, i, 3, 31; Milton, Paradise Lost, i, 299,
"Natheless he so endured," etc.; Longfellow, Occultation of Orion; R. H.
Home, Orion; Charles Tennyson Turner, Orion (a sonnet).
97. Electra. See genealogical table I. See same table for Merope, the mother
of Glaucus and grandmother of Bellerophon (155).
lUustratioe, Pleiads : Milton; Paradise Lost, 7, 374 ; Pope, Spring, 102 ; Mrs.
Hemans has verses on the same subject ; Byron, ** Like the lost Pleiad seen no
more below."
In modem sculpture. The Lost Pleiad of Randolph Rogers is famous ; in paint-
ing, the Pleiades of Elihu Vedder (Fig. 72, in text).
98. Mount Latmos : in Caria. Diana is sometimes called Phoebei the shining
one. For the descendants of Endymion, the ^Etolians, etc., see Table I.
Interpretative, According to the simplest explanation of the Endymion m3rth,
the hero is the setting sun on whom the upward rising moon delights to gaze.
His fifty children by Selene would then be the fifty months of the Olympiad, or
Greek period of four years. Some, hoWever, consider him to be a personification
of sleep, the king whose influence comes over one in the cool caves of Latmos,
'* the Mount of Oblivion " ; others, the growth of vegetation under the dewy moon-
light; still others, euhemeristically, a young hunter, who under the moonlight
followed the chase, but in the daytime slept.
JBustrative, The Endymion of Keats. Fletcher, in the Faithful Shepherdess,
tells, " How the pale Phoebe, hunting in a grove. First saw the boy Endymion,*'
etc. Young, Night Thoughts, " So Cynthia, poets feign, In shadows veiled, . . .
Her shepherd cheered " ; Spenser, Epithalamion, ** The Latmian Shepherd," etc. ;
Marvel, Songs on Lord Fauconberg and the Lady Mary Cromwell (chorus, En-
dymion and Laura) ; O. W. Holmes, Metrical Essays, **And, Night's chaste em-
press, in her bridal play, Laughed through the foliage where Endymion lay."
Poems. Besides Keats* the most important are by Lowell, Longfellow, Clough
(Epi Latmo, and Selene), T. B. Read, Buchanan, L. Morris (Epic of Hades).
John Lyly*s prose drama, Endymion, contains quaint and delicate songs.
In Art. Fig. 73, in text ; Diana and the sleeping Endymion (Vatican).
Paxntings. Carracci*s fresco, Diana embracing Endymion (Famese Palace,
Rome) ; Guercino*s Sleeping Endymion ; G. F. Watts* Endymion.
100. Textual. Paphos and Amathus : towns in Cyprus, of which the former
contained a temple to Venus. Cnidos (Cnidus or Gnidus) : a town in Caria, where
stood a famous statue of Venus, attributed to Praxiteles. Cjrtherea : Venus, an
adjective derived from her island Cythera in the iEgean Sea. Acheron^ and Per-
sephone or Proserpine: see 44-48. The windflower of the Greeks was of bloody
hue, like that of the pomegranate. It is said the wind blows the blossoms open,
and afterwards scatters the petals.
Interpretative. Among the Phoenicians Venus is known as Astarte, among the
Assyrians as Istar. The Adonis of this story is the Phoenician Adouy or the
Hebrew Adonai, ' Lord.* The myth derives its origin from the Babylonian wor-
ship of Thammuz or Adon, who represents the verdure of spring, and whom his
mistress, the goddess of fertility, seeks, after his death, m >i2ck& Vsv^x t^-^^^xa*
i THE CLASSIC MYTHS
With their departure all birth and fruitage cease nn the earth ; but when he h
been revived by sprinkling of water, and restored to his mistress and to eanh, a&
re again rejoices. The myth is akin to those of Linus, Hyacinthus, and NaT
js. Mannhardt (Wald- und Feld-kulte, 274}, cited by RoEcher, Gupplies thi
following characteristics common to such religious rites in various lands; (1) Thi
spring is personified as a beautiful youth who Is represented by an image siu
rounded by quickly fading tlowers from the " garden of Adonis." {2] He come
n the early year and is beloved by a goddess of vegetation, goddess sometimo
of the moon, sometimes of the star of Love. (3) In midsummer he dies, and dm
autumn and winter inliabiis the underworld. (4) His burial is attended wid
lamentations, his resurrection with festivals. (5) These events take place in mid
ummer and in spring. (6) The image and the Adonis plants are thrown inti
rater. (7) Sham marriages are celebrated between pairs of worshipers.
mustrativt. The realistic Idyl XV of Theocritus contains a typical Psalm a
idonis, sung atAlcKandria, forhis resurrection. Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis
Taming of the Shrew, Induction ii; t Henry VI, I, vi. In Milton, Comus, 998^
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waiting »rel! of his deep wound,
Sadly sits th' Asiyiian queen.
Drumntood, The Statue of Adonis; Pope, Summer, 61 ; Winter, n; Miscel. 7, n
Moral Essays, 3, 73 ; Dunciad, 5. zoz. See C. S. Calverley, Death of AdonI
Theocritus) ; L. Morris, Adonis (Epic of Hades).
In Art. Fig. 74, in text, from a Roman sarcophagus. The Dying Adonfa
(sculpture), Michelangelo 1 the Adonis of Thorwaldsen in the Glyptothek, W
lOI-lOS. Ttxtufd. Fsjcbe does not eat anything: in Hades, because, by accept
ing the hospitality of Proserpina, she would become an inmate of her household.
The scene with the lamp and knife probably indicates the infringement of sc
ent matrimonial custom. Brebna: the land of darkness, Hades. For Zephyl
Acbeion, Cerberus, Cfaaion, etc., see Index.
Itttfrpntatiot. The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually regarded as allegorica
The Greek name for butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the lau,
There is no Illustration of the immortality of the soul so striking and beautiful tA
that of the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it t
lain, after a dull, groveling, caterpillar eicistence, to flutter in the blaie of d
and feed on the most fragrant and delicate productions of the spring. Psycbq
then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and ll
thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness, ll is probable Hat
the story allegorizes a philosophical conception concerning thm stages of ll
soul's life : first, a former existence of bliss ; second, an earthly existence of tii;Ll
third, a heavenly future of fruition. Cox, by his usual method, finds here a myd
ot the iearch for the Sun (Eros) by the Dawn (Psyche). Many of the iDcidcM
of the story will be found In modem fairy tales and romances, luch a* Beauty aaj
COMMENTARY 503
the Beast, Grimm's Twelve Brothers ; the Gaelic stories : The Three Daughters of
King 0*Hara ; Fair, Brown, and Trembling ; The Daughter of the Skies ; and the
Norse tale — East of the Sun and West of the Moon. See Cox i, 403-411.
Ittustrative. Thomas Moore, Cupid and Psyche; Mrs. Browning, Psyche,
Paraphrase on Apuleius ; L. Morris, in The Epic of Hades ; Frederick Tennyson,
Psyche; Robert Bridges, Eros and Psyche. Most important is W. H. Pater's
Marius the Epicurean, which contains the story as g^ven by Apuleius.
In Art. Psyche is represented as a maiden with the wings of a butterfly, in
the different situations described in the allegory. The Graeco-Roman sculpture
of Cupid and Psyche, in the Capitol at Rome, is of surpassing beauty ; so also is
Canova's Cupid and Psyche.
Paintings, Raphael's frescoes in the Farnesina Villa, twelve in number, illus-
trating the story; Fran9ois Gerard's Cupid and Psyche; Paul Thumann's nine
illustrations of the story (see Figs. 75, 76, in text); R. Beyschlag's Psyche with
the Urn, Psyche Grieving, and Psyche and Pan ; W. Kray's Psyche and Zephyr ;
Psyche : by A. de Curzon ; by G. F. Watts, a series of three illustrations by H.
Bates. The Charon and Psyche of E. Neide is a sentimental, simpering concep-
tion. A. Zick also has a Psyche.
103. According to another tradition, Atalanta's love was Milanion. The nup-
tial vow was ratified by Hera (Juno). This, the Boeotian, Atalanta is sometimes
identified with the Arcadian Atajanta of the Calydonian Hunt. (See 168 and Table
D). It is better to discriminate between them. The genealogy of this Atalanta will
be seen in Tables G and I.
Ittustratwe. W. Morris, Atalanta's Race (Earthly Paradise) ; Moore, Rhymes
on the Road, on Alpine Scenery, — an allusion to Hippomenes.
In Art, Painting by E. J. Poynter, Atalanta's Race (Fig. 78, in text) ; and
Guido Reni's brilliant picture of the same subject.
104. Textual and Ulustratwe, The story of Hero and Leander is the subject
of a romantic poem by Musaeus, a grammarian of Alexandria, who lived in the
fifth century a.d. This author, in distinction from the mythical poet of the same
name, is styled the Pseudo- Musaeus. The epyllion has been translated by Sir
Robert Stapylton, Sir Edwin Arnold, and others. The feat of swimming the
Hellespont was performed by Lord Byron. The distance in the narrowest part is
not more than a mile, but there is a constant dangerous current setting out from
the Sea of Marmora into the Archipelago. For an allusion to the story see Byron,
Bride of Abydos, Canto II. For Byron's statement concerning the breadth of the
water see footnote to " Stanzas written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos."
Poems, Hero and Leander : by Leigh Hunt, by Tom Hood, by Moore ; son-
net by D. G. Rossetti, Hero's Lamp (House of Life) ; a poem not in later editions
of Tennyson, Hero to Leander, 1830; Chapman's continuation of Marlowe's Hero
and Leander.
Paintings. G. von Bodenhausen; F. Keller (Fig. 79, in text).
105. Interpretative. Another illustration of the vivifying influence of love.
Preller deems Pygmalion's story nearly akin to the Adonis myth. He regards
5^4
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
»
<
o
O
O
U
d
a
COMMENTARY 505
the festival of Venus, during which the statue of Galatea (or passive love)
receives life, as the usual Adonis-festival.
Hhistratwe. Thomson, Castle of Indolence, 2, 12; R. Buchanan, Pygmalion
the Sculptor ; Morris, and Lang, as in text ; Pygmalion : by T. L. Beddoes, by
W. C. Bennett The seventeenth-century satirist, Marston, wrote a Pygmalion, of
no great worth. Frederick Tennyson, Pygmalion (in Daphne and other Poems) ;
Arthur Henry Hallam, Lines spoken in the Character of Pygmalion; Thomas
Woolner, Pygmalion.
In Art. The Pygmalion series of four scenes, by E. Bume-Jones.
106. Textual. Semiramis: wife of King Ninus and the queen of Assyria.
Famous for her administrative and military ability. A mythical character with
features of historic probability.
lUustrative. Chaucer, Thisbe, the Martyr of Babylon (Legende of Good Women).
Allusions in Surrey, Of the Death of Sir Thomas Wyatt; Shakespeare, Midsummer
Night's Dream, III, ii; V, i; Merchant of Venice, V, i. Moore, in the Sylph*s
Ball, draws a comparison between Thisbe*s wall and the gauze of Davy's safety
lamp. Mickle's translation of the Lusiad (Island of Love).
In Art. Bume-Jones' three paintings, Cupid, Pyramus, and Thisbe (Fig. 80, in
text) ; E. J. Paupion's painting, Thisbe.
107. Textual. Lesbos and Chios: islands in the ^Egean. For Sappho see
298 (3).
JUustratwe. The second lyric of Sappho, beginning ** Like to the gods he
seems to me. The man that sits reclined by thee," has been translated by Phillips,
by Fawkes, and by recent poets. The reference is probably to Phaon. Allusions
in Pope, Moral Essays, 3, 121 ; 2, 24; Prologue to Satires, 309, loi ; Byron's Isles
of Greece, already referred to. Compare the translation in Catullus, LI.
Poems on Sappho or on Phaon : Charles Kingsley, Sappho ; Buchanan, Sappho
on the Leucadian Rock ; Landor, — Sappho, Alcaeus, Anacreon, and Phaon ;
Frederick Tennyson, Kleis or the Return (in the Isles of Greece). See also
Lyly's amusing prose drama, Sappho and Phao.
109. Textual. Mount Cyllene : between Arcadia and Achaea. Pierian Moun-
tains : in Macedonia, directly north of Thessaly ; the birthplace of the Muses.
Pylos : an ancient city of Elis.
Interpretatwe. On the supposition that the herds of Apollo are the bright rays
of the sun, a plausible physical explanation of the relations of Mercury (Hermes)
to Apollo is the following from Max Mtiller: ** Hermes is the god of the twilight,
who betrays his equivocal nature by stealing, though only in fun, the herds of
Apollo, but restoring them without the violent combat that (in the analogous
Indian story) is waged for the herds between Indra, the bright god, and Vala, the
robber. In India the dawn brings the light ; in Greece the twilight itself is sup-
posed to have stolen it, or to hold back the light, and Hermes, the twilight, sur-
renders the booty when challenged by the sun-god Apollo" (Lect on Lang.,
2 Ser., 521-522). Hermes is connected by Professor Miiller with the Vedic god
Sarameya^ son of the twilight. Mercury, or Hermes, as morning or as evening
5o6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
r
^^■a twilight, loves the Dew, is herald of the gods, is spy of the night, i
^^H sleep and dreams, is accompanied by the cock, herald of dawn, is the guide of the
^^H departed on their last journey. To the conception of twilight. Cox adds that of
^^H mn/ian, and explains Hermes as the air in molioit that springs'up with the dawn.
^^1 gains rapidly in force, sweeps before it the cieuds (here the cattle of Apollo)
^^P makes soft music through the trees (lyre), etc. Other theorists make Hennes the
Divine Activity, the god of the ether, of clouds, of storm, etc. Though the
planations of Professor Miiller and the Rev. Sir G. W. Cox are more satiafactory
here than usual, Roscher's the noi/t toind is scientificatly preferable.
IBustratiBe. See Shelley, Homeric Hymn to Mercury, on which (he ti
■ this section is based, and passages in Prometheus Unbound; Keats, Ode to Maia.
In Art. The intent of the disguise in Fig. 8: (text) is to deceive Demeterwith
a sham sacrifice.
110-113. TeMzra/. See Table E, for Bacchus, Pentheus, etc. Wy8a"hasbeen
identified as a mountain in Thmce, in BiEOIia, in Arabia, India, Libya ; and Naxos,
as a Conn in Caria or the Caucasus, and as an island in the Nile." Thebes : the
capital of Bosotia. M^eonU : Lydia, in Asia Minor. Dia : Naxos, the largest of
Ithe Cyclades Islands in the yEgean, Haunt Cltbaeron : in Bmotia. The TbyiSDa
was a wand, wreathed with ivy and surmounted by a pine cone, carried by Bacchus
and his votaries. Hsnads and Bacchajitea were female followers of Bacchus.
BacchanaJ is a general terra for his devotees,
InUTpTetatiat. "Bacchus (Dionysus) is regarded by many as iheijtirituai/crti
of the new vernal life, the sap and pulse of vegetation and of the newborn year,
especially as manifest in the vine and juice of the grape." — Lanc, Myth, Ritual,
etc., 2, 2Z1 (from Preller i, 554). The HyadeB (rain-stars), that nurtured ihe
deity, perhaps symbolize the rains that nourish sprouting vegetation. He became
identified very soon with the sfiriiuam iffecls of the vine. His sufferings may typif/
the " ruin of the summer year at the hands of storm and winter," or, perhaps, the
agony of the bleeding grapes in the wine press. The orgies would, according to this
theory, be a survival of the ungoverned actions of savages when celebrating a festi-
val in honor of the deity of plenty, of harvest home, and of intoxication. Bui incul-
y livated Greece, Dionysus, in spite of the surviving orgiastic cereroonie*, is n poetic
incarnation of blithe, changeable, spirited youth. See I-ing, Myth, Ritual, etc.. I,
221-241. That Bhea taught him would account for the Oriental nature of his
rites ; for Rhea is an Eastern deity by origin. The opposition of PenthatU would
> indicate the reluctance with which the Greeks adopted his doctrine and cere,
monial. The Dionysiac worship came from Thrace, a barbarous clime; — bui
wandering, like [he springtide, over the earth, Bacchus conquered each nation ic
turn. It is probable that the Dionysus- lacchua cult was one of evangelical en,
thuaiasm and Individual cleansing from ain, of ideals in this life and of peraoDBl
immortality in the next. By introducing it into Greece, Pisistratus refomted tha
exclusive ritual of the Elcusinian Myster
Of the FeatiTAls of Dionysus, the more important in Attica were the LcMCt
» Dionyaia, in December ; the Lenxa, in January ; the Antheiteria, or apiing feitivat,
COMMENTARY 507
in February; and the Great Dionysia, in March. These* all, in greater or less
degree, witnessed of the culture and the glories of the vine, and of the reawaken-
ing of the spirits of vegetation. They were celebrated, as the case might be, with
a sacrifice of a victim in reminiscence of the blood by which the spirits of the
departed were supposed to be nourished, with processions of women, profusion
of flowers, orgiastic songs and dances, or dramatic representations.
IBustrative. Bacchus: Milton, Comus, 46. Pentheus: Landor, The Last Fruit of
Xn Old Tree; H. H. Milman, The Bacchanals of Euripides ; Calverley*s and Lang's
translations of Theocritus, Idyl XXVI ; Thomas Love Peacock, Rhododaphne :
The Vengeance of Bacchus ; B. W. Procter, Bacchanalian Song. Nazos : Milton,
Paradise Lost, 4, 275.
In Art. Figs. 31, 82-87, 143, in text
113. Textual. Hesperides, see Index. Riyer Pactolus : in Lydia. Midas : the
son of one Gordius, who from a farmer had become king of Phryg^a, because he
happened to fulfill a prophecy by entering the public square of some city just as
the people were casting about for a king. He tied his wagon in the temple of the
prophetic deity with the celebrated Gordian Knot, which none but the future lord
of Asia might undo. Alexander the Great undid the knot with his sword.
Interpretative. An ingenious, but not highly probable, theory explains the
golden touch of Midas as the rising sun that gilds all things, and his bathing in
Pactolus as the quenching of the sun*s splendor in the western ocean. Midas is
fabled to have been the son of the " great mother," Cybele, whose worship in
Phryg^a was closely related to that of Bacchus or Dionysus. The Sileni were
there regarded as tutelary g^nii of the rivers and springs, promoting fertility of
the soil. MarsyaSy an inspired musician in the service of Cybele, was naturally
associated in fable with Midas. The ass being the favorite animal of Silenus, the
ass*s ears of Midas merely symbolize his fondness for and devotion to such habits as
were attributed to the Sileni. The ass, by the way, was reverenced in Phrygia ; the
acquisition of ass's ears may therefore have been originally a glory, not a disgrace.
mustrative. John Lyly, Play of Mydas, especially the song, " Sing to Apollo,
god of day " ; Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, III, ii (casket scene) ; Pope,
Dunciad, 3, 342 ; Prologue to Satires, 82 ; Swift, The Fable of Midas ; J. G. Saxe,
The Choice of King Midas (a travesty). Gordian Knot: Henry V, I, i; Cymbe-
line, II, ii ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 348 ; Vacation, 90. Pactolus : Pope, Spring,
6i-; allusions also to the sisters of Phaethon. Silenus, by W. S. Landor.
114-117. Textual. Mount Eryx, the vale of Enna, and Cyane are in Sicily.
Eleusis : in Attica. For Arethusa see Index.
Interpretative. The Italian goddess Ceres assumed the attributes of the Greek
Demeter in 496 B.C. Proserpine signifies the seed-corn which, when cast into the
ground, lies there concealed, — is carried off by the god of the underworld;
when the corn reappears, Proserpine is restored to her mother. Spring leads
her back to the light of day. The following, from Aubrey De Vere's Introduction
to his Search for Proserpine, is suggestive: "Of all the beautiful fictions of
Greek Mythology, there are few more exquisite than the story of Proserpine, and
I
508 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
none deeper in symbolical meaning. Considering the fable wich reference to the
physical world, Bacon says, in his Wisdom of the Ancients, that by the Rape of
Proserpine is signified Ihe disappearance of flowers at the end of the year, when
the vital juices are, as it were, drawn down to the central darkness, and held there
in bondage. Following up this view of the subject, (he Search of her Mother,
sad and unavailing as it was, would seem no unfit emblem of Autumn and the
restless melancholy of the season ; while the hope with which the Goddess was
finally cheered may perhaps remind us of that unexpected return of fine weather
which occurs so frequently, like an omen of Spring, just before Winter closes in.
The fable has, however, its moral significance also, being connected with that
great mystery of Joy and Grief, of Life and Death, which pressed so heavily on
the mind of Pagan Greece, and imparts to the whole of her mythology a profound
interest, spiritual as well as philosophical. It was the restoration of Man, not of
flowere, the victory over Death, not Over Winter, with which that high Intelligence
felt itself to he really concerned." In Greece two kinds of Festivals, the Eleuainia
and the Theamophoria, were held in honor of Demeter and Persephone. The
former was divided into the lesser, celebrated in Februarj-, and the greater (lasting
nine days), in September. Distinction must be made between the Festivals and
the Mysteries of Eleusis. In the Festivals all classes might participate. Those of
(he Spring represented the restoration of Persephone to her mother ; those of Ihe
Autumn the rape of Persephone. An image of the youthful lacchus (Bacchus)
headed the procession in its march toward Eleusis. At that place and in the
neighborhood were enacted in realistic fashion the wanderings and the sufferings
of Demeter, the scenes in the house of Celeus, and finally the successful conclu-
sion of the search for Persephone. The MyBteries of Eleusis were witnessed
only by the initiated, and were invested with a veil of secrecy which has never
been fully withdrawn. The initiates passed through certain symbolic ceremonies
from one degree of mystic enlightenment to another till the highest was attained.
The X.esser Mysteries were an introduction to the Greater ; and it is known that
the rices involved partook of the nature of purification from passion, crime, and
the various degradations of human existence. By pious contemplarion of the
dramatic scenes presenting the sorrows of Demeter, and by participation in sacra-
mental rites, it is probable that the injriated were instructed in the nature of life
and death, and consoled with the hope of immortaiity (Preller). On the develop-
ment of the Eleusinian Mysteries from the savage to the civilized ceremonial, see
Lang, Myth, Ritual, etc., z, 275, and Lobeck, Aglaophamus, 133.
The TheBmopbOTia were celebrated by married women in honor of Ceres
(Demeter), and referred to institutions of married life.
That Proserpine should be under bonds to the underworld because she had
partaken of food in Hades accords with a superstition not peculiar to the
Greeks, but to be " found in New Zealand, Melanesia, Scotland, Finland, and
among the Ojibbeways" (Lang, Myth. Ritual, etc., 2, 273).
Blustratlot. Aubrey De Vere, aa above ; B. W. Procter, The Rape of ProMr-
ine i R. H. Stoddard, The Search for Persephone ; G. Meredith. The Appeaae-
COMMENTARY 509
ment of Demeter ; Tennjrson, Demeter and Persephone ; Dora Greenwell, Demeter
and Cora ; T. L. Beddoes, Song of the Stygian Naiades ; A. C. Swinburne, Song
to Proserpine. See also notes under Persephone, 44, Demeter and Pluto. Eleosis :
Schiller, Festival of Eleusis, translated by N. L, Frothingham ; At Eleusis, by
Swinburne. See, for poetical reference, Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 269, ** Not that
fair field Of Enna," etc. j Hood, Ode to Melancholy :
Forgive if somewhile I forget,
In woe to come the present bliss ;
As frighted Proserpine let fall
Her flowers at the sight of Dis.
In Art. Bemini*s Pluto and Proserpine (sculpture); P. Schobelt's Rape of
Proserpine (picture). Eleusinian relief: Demeter, Cora, Triptolemus (Athens);
and other figures, as in text.
118. Textual. Taenams : in Laconia. For the crime of Tantalus, see 78. In
Hades he stood up to his neck in water which receded when he would drink ;
grapes hanging above his head withdrew when he would pluck them; while a
great rock was forever just about to fall upon him. Izion, for an insult to Juno,
was lashed with serpents or brazen bands to an ever-revolving wheel. Sisyphus,
for his treachery to the gods, vainly rolled a stone toward the top of a hill (see
255). For the Danalds, see 150 ; Cerberus, 44, 255. The Dynast's bond : the
contract with Pluto, who was Dynast or tyrant of Hades. Ferry-guard : Charon.
Strymon and Hebrus : rivers of Thrace. Libethra : a city on the side of Mount
Olympus, between Thessaly and Macedonia.
Interpretative. The loss of Eurydice may signify (like the death of Adonis and
the rape of Proserpine) the departure of spring. Max Muller, however, identifies
OfpAeusyrith the Sanskrit ArbhUy used as a name for the Sun (Chips, etc., 2, 127).
According to this explanation the Sun follows Eurydice, "the wide-spreading
flush of the dawn who has been stung by the serpent of night," into the regions
of darkness. There he recovers Eurydice, but while he looks back upon her she
fades before his gaze, as the mists of morning vanish before the glory of the
rising sun (Cox). It might be more consistent to construe Eurydice as the twilight^
first, of evening which is slain by night, then, of morning which is dissipated by
sunrise. Cox finds in the music of Orpheus the delicious strains of the breezes
which accompany sunrise and sunset. The story should be compared with that
of Apollo and Daphne, and of Mercury and Apollo. The Irish tale, The Three
Daughters of King O'Hara, reverses the relation of Orpheus and Eurydice.
See Curtin, Myths and Folk- Lore of Ireland, Boston, 1890.
Hbtstratitfe. Orpheus : Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, III, ii ; Mer-
chant of Venice, V, i ; Henry VIII, III, i (song) ; Milton, Lycidas, 58 ; L*Allegro,
145 ; II Penseroso, 105 ; Pope, Ode on St. Cecilia's Day (Eurydice) ; Summer, 81 ;
Southey, Thalaba (The Nightingale's Song over the Grave of Orpheus).
Poems. Wordsworth, The Power of Music; Shelley, Orpheus, a fragment;
Browning, Eurydice and Orpheus; Wm. Morris, Orpheus and the Sirens (Life
and Death of Jason) ; L. Morris, Orpheus, Eurydice (Epic of Hades) ; Lowell,
5IO
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Eurydice; E, Dowden, Eurydice ; W. li. Scott, Eurydice; E. W. Gosae, The
Waking of Eurydice ; R. Buchanan, Orpheus, the Musician ; J. G. Saie, Travesty
of Oqiheus and Eurydice. On Tantalus and SisypbuB, see Spenser, Faerie
Quecne, l, 5, 31-35 ; L. Morris, Epic of Hades.
Ai Art. A Relief on a tombstone in the National Museum, Naples, of Mercniiy,
Orpheus, and Eurydice. There is also a copy in Paris of the marble in the Villa
Albani, Rome. (See Pig. 94, text.) Paintings: Fig. 93, in text, by Sir Frederick
Leighton; by Robert Beyschlag; by G. F. Watts; The Story of Orpheus, a
of ten paintings, by E. Bume-Jones.
119-120. Textual. Troy : the capital of Troas in Asia Minor, situated between
ers Scamander and Simois. Famous for the siege conducted by the Greeks
under Agamemnon, Menelaijs, etc. (See Chap. XXII.] Amymone: a fountain
of Argolis. Enipous: a river of Macedonia.
Interpretative. The monsters that wreak the vengeance of Neptune are, of
:, his destructive storms and lashing waveii. .
181. For genealogy of Pelops, etc., see Tables F and I. For the misfortunes
of the PelopidsE, see 193.
Xtbatratint in Art. Pelops and Hippodamla; vase pictures (Monuments in^dits,
Rome, and Paris). East pediment. Temple of Zeus, Olympia.
123-124. Textual CephaJus, the son of Mercury (Hermes) and Herse,
etrievably confounded with Cephalus, the son of Deion and grandson
jEolus I. The former should, strictly, be regarded as the lover of Aurora
(Eos) ; the latter is the husband of Procria, and the great-grandfather of Ulysses.
(See Tables H, I, and O (4).)
tnterpretatiae. Procria is the dewdrop (from Greek Prox, 'dew') which reflects
the shining rays of the sun. The " head of the day," or the rising sun, Cephalus.
also wooed by Aurora, the Uawn, but flies from her. The Sun slays the dew
with the same gleaming darts that the dew reflects, or gives back to him, Accord-
ing to Preller, Cephalus la the morning-star beloved alike by Procrls, the moon,
and by Aurora, the dawn. The concealment of Procris in the forest and her
death would, (hen, signify the paling of the moon before the approaching day.
Hardly so probable as the former explanation.
IBwtlratwe. Auioia: Spenser, Faerie Quecne, 1, z, 7 ; t, 4, 16; Shakespeaie,
Midsummer Night's Dream, HI, ii i Romeo and Juliet, I, i; Milton, Paradise Lott.
5, 6, " Now Morn, her rosy steps in (he eastern clime Advancing," etc. ; L' Allegro,
19; Lander, Gehir, "Now to Aurora home by dappled steeds, The sacred gates
of orient pearl and gold . . . Expanded slow," etc. Cephalus and Procris: in
Moore, Legendary Ballads; Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, " Shafalus
and Procrus " ; A. Dobson, The Death of Procris,
In Art. Aurora : Figs. 97 and 99. as in text ; paintings, by Guido Reni, a» Fig.
98 in text, and by J. L. Hamon, and Guercino, Procris and Cephalus, by Turner.
L'Aurore et Ciphale, painted by P. Guerin, iSio, engraved by F. Forater, l8ai.
ISfi, Tactual. CimtrBrian country ; a fabulous land in the far west, near
Hades ; or, perhaps, in the north, for the people dwell by the ocean ihat is nev4I
COMMENTARY
visited by sunlight (Odyssey, 11, 14-19). Other sons of
Somnus are IcellU, who personates birds, beasts, and
serpents, and Phantasas, who assumes the fonns of
rocks, streams, and other inanimate things.
The accompanying tahle will indicate the connec-
tions and descendants of Aurora.
Interprttatwt. According to one account, Ceyx and
Halcyone, by likening their wedded happiness to that
of Jupiter and Juno, incurred the displeasure of the
.. gods. The myth springs from observation of the habits
of the Halcyon-bird, which nests on the strand and
is frequently bereft of its young by the winter waves.
The comparison with the glory of Jupiter and Juno is
suggested by the splendid iris hues of the birds.
Halcyon days have become proverbial as seasons of
calm. Molaa I, the son of Hellen, is here identified
with .Solus III, the king of the winds. According to
Diodonis, Che latter is a descendant, in the iifth gener-
ation, of the former. (See Genealogical Table I.)
JJbutrttfnw. Chaucer, The Dethe of Blaunche; E.
W. Gosse, Alcyone (a sonnet in dialogue) ; F. Tenny-
son, Halcyone; Edith M. Thomas, The Kingfisher;
Margaret J. Preston, Alcyone. Morpheus : see Milton,
II Penseroso; Pope, Ode on St. Cecilia's Day.
126-127. InterpTttatiBt. Tithonua may be the day
in its ever-recurring circuit of morning freshness, noon
heat, hnat withering and decay (Freller) ; or the gray
glimmer of the heavens overspread by the lirst ruddy
flush of morning (Welcker) ; or, as a solar myth, the
sun in his setting and waning, — TilAnHUi meaning,
by derivation, the illuminator (Mai Miiller). The
sleep of TithoDus in his ocean-bed, and his transfer.
mation into a grasshopper, would then typify the pre-
sumable weariness and weakness of the sun at night.
Wattmtive. Spenser, Epithalamion; Faerie Queene,
I. ". SI-
I2S. TVxAfof. Mysia: province of Asia Minor,
south of the Propontis, or Sea of Marmora. There is
some doubt about the identification of the existing
statue with that described by the ancients, and the
mysterious sounds are still more doubtful. Yet there
is not wanting modem testimony to their being still
audible. It has been suggested that sounds produced
by confined air making its escape from crevices or
i a
til-|
4^
5H
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
IBaatratioe. John Gay. Song of Folypheme (in Acis and Galatea) ; A. Dobsoi^
A Tale of Folypheme ; R. Buchanan, Polypheme's Passion ; Shelley, The Cyclop*
Euripides ; Translations of Theocritus by Mrs. Browning and by Calverieyj
J. S. Blackie, Galatea; B. W. Procter, The Death of Acis, See also on Ihi
CyclOpa, Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, IV, iii ; Hamlet, II, ii.
InArt. Fig. 112, text; Carracci's frescoes in the Farnese Palace, Rome, 0
Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea; Claude Lorrain's painting. Evening, Acis anf
Galatea ; Raphael's Triumph of Galatea.
148, Textual. For descent of Giaucus, see Tables G and I. For Scylla'*
descent, see Table C. See Keats, Endymion, Bk. 3.
Interpretatax. Giaucus is explained by Eome as the calm glea
others, as the angry sea that reflects the lowering heavens (see Roscher, p. 1690^
Scylla is a personification of treacherous currents and shallows among ji
cliSs and hidden rocks.
144. For genealogy of Ino, see Table E. " Leucothea waked, and with i
dews embalmed The Earth " (Milton, Paradise ]jist, 1 1, 135).
145. CyiSDe was sister to Daphne. Honey must first have been known ft
wild product, the bees building their structures in hollow trees, or holes in 1
rocks, or any similar cavity that chance offered. Thus occasionally the caicssa
a dead animal would be occupied by the bees for that purpose. It was no doi
from some such incident that the superstition arose that bees were engende
by the decaying fiesh of the animal. Virgil assigns to Proteus the isle of C
pathus, between Crete and Rhodes ; Homer, the isle of Fhanis, near I
river Nile.
IBustratioe. See C. M. Proteus, a poem by R. Buchanan. On i
Cowper's Task, comparison of the ice-palace of Empress Anne of Russia wittl
Cyrene's palace. Milton probably thought of Cyrene in describing Sabrink
(Comus). He calls Proteus "the Carpathian Wizard."
146-14T. Ttxtual. Acheloiis : the largest river in Greece, rose in Mount I
mon, fiowed between Acarnsnia and .'Elolia, and emplied into the Ionian Ses. It
was honored over all Greece. Calydoa: a city of ^tolia, famed for the Ca^
donian Hunt. Puthenope, see 93B. 1.\%m. (L\^e\i) : ihc ikrill-ieunding m
here a Siren ; sometimes a Dryad.
laitrprttativt. Even among the ancients such stories as this were expUInd
on a physical basis: the river Acheloiis flows through the realm of De}tltii«i
hence Acheloiis loves Dejanira. When the river winds it is a snake, when it
roars it is a bull, when it overflows its banks It puts fonh new horns. Hercules is
supposed to have regulated the course of the stream by confining it within R
and suitable channel. At the same time the old channel, redeemed from the
stream, subjected to cultivation, and blossoming with flowers, might welt be cillei
» Mom ef plenty. There is another account of the origin of the Cornucopia. Ju[
at his birth was committed by his mother Rhea to the care of the daughters ot'
1 king. They fed the infant deity with the milk of the goil
Amalihea. Jupiter, breaking ofl one of the boms of the goat, gave it to tut ni
■s
lU
S
;us
= Cretheos
Pheres
he Acastus Alcestis = AdmetttS
Laodamia
(Protesilaus)
i
-4 .*:thra
I I
}ie Hyades
lesperis
f Hesperides
' i
^ Sterope I
Uaia = Jove
I
Mercury
JEaoa Amythaon
Jason I
Bias
= Pero
Talaiis
r
'j*
Adiastos Briphyle 3= Amphiaratts
Melampus
(the Prophet)
Antiphates Thestius
Olcles = Hypermnestra
I
Alcmsdon Amphilochus
= Arsinoi!
\
u.<
COMMENTARY
515
and endowed it with the power of becoming filled with whatever the possessor
might wish.
Illustrative, The name Amalthea is given also to the mother of Bacchus. It
is thus used by Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 275 :
That Nyseiah isle,
Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,
Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
Hid Amalthea, and her florid son,
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye.
See also Milton, Paradise Regained, 2, 356.
148. For the general genealogy of the race of Inachus, see Table D. For the
general race of lapetus, Deucalion, Hellen, iEolus, iEtolus, etc., see below. Table
I (based in part on the table given in Roscher, article Deukalion). For the de-
scendants of Agenor, see Table E. For the houses of Minos and of Labdacus, see
Tables L and N. For the descendants of Belus (house of Danaiis), see Tables I
and J ; of Cecrops and Erechtheus, Table M.
(i) The race of Inachiis
The descendants of Pelasgus,
of Belus,
House of Danaiis
of Agenor
Houses of Minos and Labdacus
(2) The race of Deucalion (Table G), and of his son, Hellen
The descendants of iEolus, of Dorus, of Xuthus,
I (Achaeans and lonians)
The descendants of Endymion, Perieres, Deion, Sisyphus, Cretheus, Athamas
(3) The descendants of .Stolns, son of Endymion (Table K)
Houses of Porthaon and Thestius
(4) The race of Cecrops
The descendants of Erichthonius
I
House of Fandion and iGgeus
5i6 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
149-154. Textual. Seriphus : an island of the ^^gean.
The House of Danaiis is as follows :
Table J. The House of Danaus
Inachus
lo = Jupiter
I
Epaphus
Libya = Poseidon (Neptune)
Agenor Belus of Egypt
I 1 I \ 1
Cadmus Europa JEgyptas Danatts Cepheus = Cassiopea
I I I
1 i ( I Andromeda = Perseus
49 other sons Ljmceus = Hypermnestra 49 other daughters (see below)
Abas
Acnsius
Danai) = Jupiter
Persetis = Andromeda
Perses Electiyon Alcaeus
Jupiter = Alcmene = Amphitryon
Hercules Iphicles
Interpretative. While Danaus is, in fact, a native m3rthical hero of Argos, the
story of his arrival from Egypt is probably an attempt to explain the influence of
Egyptian civilization upon the Greeks. The name Danaiis means droughty and
may refer to the frequently dry condition of the soil of Argos. The fifty daughters
of Danaiis would then be the nymphs of the many springs which in season refresh
the land of Argolis. Their suitors, the fifty sons of iEgyptus, would be the streams
of Argolis that in the rainy months threaten to overflow their banks. But the
springs by vanishing during the hot weather deprive the streams of water and
consequently of life. That is to say, when the sources (Danaids) choose to stop
supplies, the heads of the streams (the fifty youths of Argolis) are cut off. The
reference to ^Egyptus and the sons of iEgyptus would indicate a reminiscence
of the Nile and its tributaries, alternately overflowing and exhausted. The unsuc-
cessful toil of the Danaids in Tartarus may have been suggested by the sandy
nature of the Argive soil, and the leaky nature of the springs, now high, now
low. Or it may typify, simply, any incessant, fruitless labor. The name Hyper-
mnestra signifies constancy and love. Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, has been
regarded as the dry earth, which under the rains of the golden springtime bursts
into verdure and bloom ; or as the dark depths of the earth ; or as the dawn,
from which, shot through with the golden rays of heaven, the youthful Sun is
COMMENTARY 5 1 7
born.i Advocates of the last theory would understand the voyage of Danae and
Perseus as the tossing of the sunbeams on the waters of the eastern horizon.
The young Sun would next overcome the Gray-women, forms of the gloaming,
and then slay with his sword of light the black cloud of the heavenly vaults the
Gorgon, whose aspect is night and death.
The Graeae and the Gorgons may, with greater probability, be taken as per-
sonifications of the hidden horrors of the unknown night-enveloped ocean and
the misty horizon whence storms come. In that case the Graeae will be the gray
clouds, and their one tooth (or one eye) the harmless gleam of the lightning ; the
Gorgons will be the heavy thunderclouds, and their petrifying gaze the swift and
fatal lightning flash.
But there are still others who find in the Gorgon Medusa the wan visage of
the moon, empress of the night, slain by the splendor of morning. The sandals
of Hermes have, accordingly, been explained as the morning breeze, or even as
the chariot of the sun. The invisible helmet may be the clouds under which the sun
disappears. Compare the cloak of darkness in the Three Daughters of King
O'Hara ; and the Sword of Sharpness in the Weaver's Son and the Giant of White
Hill (Curtin, Myths of Ireland).
Andromeda is variously deciphered: the tender dawn, which a storm-cloud
would obscure and devour ; the moon, which darkness, as a dragon, threatens to
swallow ; or some historic character that has passed into myth. Compare the con-
tests of Perseus and the Dragon, Apollo and Pytho, Hercules and the Serpents,
Cadmus and the Dragon of Mars, St. George and the Dragon, Siegfried and the
Worm (Fafnir). For a Gaelic Andromeda and Perseus, see The Thirteeitth Son
of the King of Erin (Curtin, Myths of Ireland).
Perseus' flight to the Gardens of the Hesperides suggests, naturally, the circuit
of the sun toward the flushing western horizon ; and, of course, he would here
behold the giant Atlas, who, stationed where heaven and earth meet, sustains
upon his shoulders the celestial vault
The Doom of Acrisius reminds one of that of Hyacinthus. The quoit suggests
the rays of the sun, and the name Acrisius may be construed to mean the " con-
fused or gloomy heavens" (Roscher, Preller, Miiller, etc.).
lUustrative, " The starred ^thiop queen " : Cassiopea (Cassiepea, or Cassiope)
became a constellation. The sea-n3rmphs, however, had her placed in a part of the
heavens near the pole, where she is half the time held with her head downward
to teach her humility.
Danae. Tennyson, Princess, " Now lies the Earth all Danae to the stars. And
all thy heart lies open unto me." Translations of Simonides' Lament of Danae,
by W. C. Bryant and by J. H. Frere. Danaid : Chaucer, Legende of Good Women,
2561 (Hypermnestra and Lynceus).
Gorgons and Medusa. Spenser, Epithalamion, ** And stand astonished like to
those which read Medusa's mazeful head"; Milton, Paradise Lost, 2. 611, 628,
Comus (on iEgis and Gorgon) ; Drummond, The Statue of Medusa ; Gray, Hymn
1 This dawn theory xs certainly far-fetched.
5l8 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
to Adversity ; Armstrong, The Art of Preserving Health ; D. G. Rossetti, Aspecta
Medusa ; L. Morris, in The Epic of Hades ; Thomas Gordon Hake, The Infant
Medusa (a sonnet) ; E. Lee-Hamilton, The New Medusa ; Lady Charlotte Elliot,
Medusa.
Andromeda. Milton, Paradise Lost, 3, 559 (the constellation); L. Morris in The
Epic of Hades; W. Morris, Doom of King Acrisius; E. Dowden, Andromeda
(The Heroines).
Atlas. Shakespeare, 3 Henry VI, 5, i ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 4, 987 ; 1 1, 402,
comparison of Satan and Atlas.
In Art. Fig. 116, in text: vase in the Hermitage, Petrograd. Titian's paint-
ing, Danae and the Shower of Gold ; Correggio's Danae. Ancient sculpture : a
Dana'id in the Vatican; the Danaids on an altar in the Vatican (Fig. 115, in text).
Perseus and Andromeda. Figs. 119-121, and opp. p. 212, in text; painting by
Rubens (Berlin). Sculpture: Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus (Loggia de* Lanzi,
Florence), and Perseus saving Andromeda ; Canova's Perseus (Vatican).
Medusa. Graeco- Roman sculpture : Head of Dying Medusa (Villa Ludovisi,
Rome); the beautiful Medusa Rondanini in the Glyptothek, Munich (Figs. 117
and 118, text); numerous illustrations of abhorrent Gorgons in Roscher, p. 1707
ei seq.^ from vases, seals, marbles, etc.
Modem Painting. Leonardo da Vinci, Head of Medusa.
155. Textual. The descent of Bellerophon is as follows. (See also Table I.) •
Deucalion = Pyrrha
• Hellen
i^olus I Atlas
II
Sisyphus = Merope (Pleiad)
Glaucus
Bellerophon
Lycia: in Asia Minor. The fountain Hippocrene, on the Muses' mountain.
Helicon, was opened by a kick from the hoof of Pegasus. This horse belong^ to
the Muses, and has from time immemorial been ridden by the poets. From the
story of Bellerophon being unconsciously the bearer of his own death-warrant,
the expression ** Bellerophontic letters " arose, to describe any species of com-
munication which a person is made the bearer of, containing matter prejudicial to
himself. Aleian field : a district in Cilicia (Asia Minor).
Interpretative. Bellerophon is either " he who appears in the clouds," or " he
who slays the cloudy monster." In either sense we have another sun-myth and
sun-hero. He is the son of Glaucus, who, whether he be descended from Sisyphus
or from Neptune, is undoubtedly a sea-god. His horse, sprung from Medusa, the
thundercloud, when she falls under the sword of the sun, is Pegasus, the rain-cloud.
In his contest with the Chimaera we have a repetition of the combat of Perseus
and the sea monster. Bellerophon is a heavenly knight errant who slays the powers
of storm and darkness. The earth, struck by his horse's hoof, bubbles into springs
COMMENTARY 519
(Rapp in Roscher, and Max Miiller). At the end of the day, falling from heaven,
this knight of the sun walks in melancholy the pale fields of the twilight.
lUustrative. Wm. Morris, Bellerophon in Argos and in Lycia (Earthly Paradise) ;
Longfellow, Pegasus in Pound; Bowring's translation of Schiller's Pegasus in
Harness. Milton (Bellerophon and Pegasus), Paradise Lost, 7, i ; Spenser, ** Then
whoso will with virtuous wing assay To mount to heaven, on Pegasus must ride.
And with sweet Poet's verse be glorified" ; also Faerie Queene, i, 9, 21 ; Shake-
speare, Taming of the Shrew, IV, iv ; i Henry IV, IV, i ; Henry V, III, vii ; Pope,
Essay on Criticism, 150 ; Dunciad, 3, 162 ; Burns, To John Taylor; Young's Night
Thoughts, Vol. 2 (on Bellerophontic letters). Hipx>Ocrene : Keats, To a Nightingale.
In Art, Bellerophon and Pegasus, vase picture (Monuments in^dits, etc., Rome
and Paris, 1 839-1 874) ; ancient relief, Fig. 122, in text.
156-162. For genealogy of Hercules, see Table J. Rhadamanthus : brother
of Minos. (See Index.) Thespis and Orchomenos: towns of Boeotia. Nemea:
in Argolis, near Mycenae. Stymphalian lake : in Arcadia.
Pillars of Hercules. The chosen device of Charles V of Germany represented
the Pillars of Hercules entwined by a scroll that bore his motto, " Plus Ultra "
(still farther). This device, imprinted upon the German dollar, has been adopted
as the sign of the American dollar ($). Dollary by the way, means coin of the
valley, — German Thai. The silver of the first dollars came from Joachimsthal in
Bohemia, about 1518. Hesperides: the western sky at sunset. The apples may
have been suggested by stories of the oranges of Spain. The Cacus myth is
thoroughly latinized, but of Greek origin. The Aventine : one of the hills of
Rome. Colchis: in Asia, east of the Euxine and south of Caucasus. Mysia:
province of Asia Minor, north of Lydia. The river Phasis flows through Colchis
into the Euxine. For genealogy of Laomedon, see Table O (5). Pylos: it is
doubtful what city is intended. There were two such towns in Elis, and one in
Messenia. The word means gate (see Iliad, 5, 397), and in the case of Hercules
there may be some reference to his journey to the gate or Pylos of Hades. For
Alcestis, see 83; for Prometheus, 15 ; for the family of Dejanira, Table K. Alcides :
i.e. Hercules, descendant of Alcaeus. (Echalia : in Thessaly or in Euboea. Mount
CEta : in Thessaly. The Pygmies : a nation of dwarfs, so called from a Greek
word meaning the cubit, or measure of about thirteen inches, which was said to
be the height of these people. They lived near the sources of the Nile, or, accord-
ing to others, in India. Homer tells us that the cranes used to migrate every
winter to the Pygmies' country, where, attacking the cornfields, they precipitated
war. H. M. Stanley, in his last African expedition, discovered a race of diminutive
men that correspond fairly in appearance with those mentioned by Homer. The
Cercopes : the subject of a comic poem by Homer, and of numerous grotesque
representations in Greek literature and sculpture.
Interpretative. All myths of the sun represent that luminary as struggling
against and overcoming monsters, or performing other laborious tasks in obedi-
ence to the orders of some tryant of inferior spirit, but of legal authority. Since
the life of Hercules is composed of such tasks, it is easy to class him with other
t520 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
aun-heroes. But to construe hia whole history and all his feats as symholic of the
8un's progress through the heavens, beginning with the labors performed in his
eastern home and ending with the capture of Cerberus in the underworld beyond
the west, or to construe the subjects of the twelve labors as consciously recalling the
twelve signs of the Zodiac is not only unwarranted, but absurd. To some extent
Hercules is a sun-hero ; to some extent his adventures are fabulous history ; to a
greater extent both he and his adventures are the product of generations of
SESthetic, but primitive and fanciful, invention. The same statement holds true of
nearly al) the heroes and heroic deeds of mythology. As a matter of interest, it
may be noted that the serpents that attacked Hercules in his cradle are explained
as powers of darkness which the sun destroys, and the cattle that he tended, as
the clouds of morning. His choice between pleasure and duty al the outset of
his career enforces, of course, a lesson of conduct. His lion's skin may denote
the tawny cloud which the sun trails behind him as he lights his way through the
vapors that he overcomes {Cox), The slaughter of the Centaurs may be the dis-
sipation of these vapors. His insanity may denote the raging heat of the sun at
noonday. The Nemcan lion may be a monster of cloud or darkness; the Hydra,
a cloud that confines the kindly raina, or at times covers the heavens with numer-
ous necks and heads of vapor. The Cerynean Stag may be a golden-tinted cloud
that the sun chases ; and the Cattle of the Augean stables, clouds that, refusing to
burst in rain, consign the earth to drought and lilth. The Erymanthian boar and
the Cretan bull are probably varied forms of the powers of darkness ; so also the
Stamphalian (Stymphalian) birds and the giant Cacus. Finally, the scene of the
hero's death is a " picture of a sunset in wild confusion, the multitude of clouds
hurrying hither and thither, now hiding, now revealing the mangled body of the
sun." In this way Cox, and other interpreters of myth, would explain the series.
But while the explanations are entertaining and poetic, their very plausibility
should suggest caution in accepting them. It is not safe to construe all the details
of a mythical career in terms of any one theory. The more noble side of the
character of Hercules presents itself to the moral understanding, as worthy of
consideration and admiration. The dramatist Euripides has portrayed him as ■
great-hearted hero, high-spirited and jovial, rejoicing in the vigor of manhood,
comforting the downcast, wrestling with Death and overcoming him, Testorinfi
happiness where sorrow had obtained. No grander conception of manliness ha» m
modem times found expression in poetry than that of the Hercules in Browning's
transcript of Euripides, Balauation's Adventure.
nbatrativf. Lang's translation of the Lityerses song (Theocritus, Idyl X). The
song, like the Linus song, is of early origin among the laborers in the field. For
HMCules, see Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella; Spenser, Faerie Queene,
I, II, 27; Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, II. i; III, ii; Taming of the Stuvw,
I, ii i Coriolanus, IV, i ; Hamlet, I. ii ; Much Ado About Nothing. 11,1; III, jU:
King John, n, i; Titus Andronicus, IV, ii; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, SI
,IV, vii; Pope, Satires, 5, 17; Milton, Paradise Lost, 11, 410 (Ger
Shakespeare, King John, V, Ii ; Midsummer Night's Dream, I
COMMENTARY 521
I Henry VI, I, iv ; 3 Henry VI, I, iv ; Pope, Rape of the Lock, 3, 67 ; Hylas ;
Pope, Autumn j Dunciad, 2, 336.
Poems. S. Rogers, on the Torso of Hercules ; Browning, Balaustion*s Adventure,
and Aristophanes' Apology; L. Morris, Dejaneira (Epic of Hades) ; William Morris,
The Golden Apples (Earthly Paradise) ; J. H. Frere's translation of Euripides'
Hercules Furens, and Plumptre's, or R. Whitelaw*s (1883), ^^ Sophocles* Women
of Trachis ; George Cabot Lodge, Herakles. Pygmies : James Beattie, Battle of
the Pygmies and the Cranes. Dejanira : Fragment of Chorus of a " Dejaneira," by
M. Arnold. Hylas: Moore (song), "When Hylas was sent with his urn to the
fount," etc. ; Bayard Taylor, Hylas ; R. C. Rogers, Hylas ; translation of Theoc-
ritus^ Idyl XIII, by C. S. Calverley, 1869. Daphnis : Theocritus, Idyl I. Accord-
ing to this, Daphnis so loves Nais that he defies Aphrodite to make him love
again. She does so, but he fights against the new passion, and dies a victim
of the implacable goddess. This song is sung by Thyrsis. Also on Daphnis,
read E. Gosse's poem. The Gifts of the Muses.
In Art. Fig. 65, of a statue reproducing the style of Scopas ; figs. 123-129, and
opp. p. 226, in text; Heracles in the eastern pediment of the Parthenon (?);
the Torso Belvedere ; Farnese Hercules (National Museum, Naples) ; Hercules
in the metopes of the Temple of Silenus (Museum, Palermo) ; the Infant Her-
cules strangling a Serpent (antique sculpture), in the Ufiizi at Florence; C. G.
Gleyre's painting, Hercules at the Feet of Omphale (Louvre) ; Bandinelli (sculp-
ture), Hercules and Cacus ; Giovanni di Bologna (sculpture), Hercules and Cen-
taur; Amazon (ancient sculpture), in the Vatican; and Figs. 162, 185 and opp.
p. 306, in text; Centaur (sculpture), Capitol, Rome; the Mad Heracles, vase
picture (Monuments in^dits, Rome and Paris, 1 839-1878).
163-167. For the descent of Jason from Deucalion, see Table G. lolcos: a
town in Thessaly. Lenmos: in the i^gean, near Tenedos. Phineus: a son of
Agenor, or of Poseidon. For the family of Medea, see Table H.
Interpretative. Argo means swt/Hf or wAite, or commemorates the ship-builder,
or the city of Argos. The Argo-m)rth rests upon a mixture of traditions of the
earliest seafaring and of the course of certain physical phenomena. So far as the
tradition of primitive seafaring is concerned, it may refer to some half-piratical
expedition, the rich spoils of which might readily be known as the Golden Fleece.
So far as the physical tradition is concerned, it may refer to the course of the
year (the Ram of the Golden Fleece being the fructifying clouds that come and
go across the i^gean) or to the process of sunrise and sunset (?) : Helle being the
glimmering twilight that sinks into the sea ; Phrixus (in Greek Phrixos)^ the radiant
sunlight; the voyage of the Argo through the Symplegades, the nocturnal journey
of the sun down the west; the oak with the Golden Fleece, a symbol of the sunset
which the dragon of darkness guards; the fire-breathing bulls, the advent of
morning ; the offspring of the dragon's teeth, an image of the sunbeams leaping
from eastern darkness. Medea is a typical wise-woman or witch ; daughter of
Hecate and granddaughter of Asteria, the starry heavens, she comes of a family
skilled in magic. Her aunt Circe was even more powerful in necromancy than she.
522 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
The robe of Medea is the fleece in another form. The death of Creusa, also called
Glauce, suggests that of Hercules (in the flaming sunset?). Jason is no more faithful
to his sweetheart than other solar heroes — Hercules, Perseus, Apollo — are to
theirs. The sun must leave the colors and glories, the twilights and the clouds of
to-day, for those of to-morrow. See Roscher, pp. 530-537. The physical explanation
is more than commonly plausible. But the numerous adventures of the Argonauts
are certainly survivals of various local legends that have been consolidated and
preserved in the artistic form of the myth. Jason, Diason, is another Zeus, of the
Ionian race, beloved by Medea, whose name, " the counseling woman," suggests
a goddess. Perhaps Medea was a local Hera-Demeter, degraded to the rank of a
heroine. The Symplegades may be a reminiscence of rolling and clashing ice-
bergs ; the dove incident occurs in numerous ancient stories from that of Noah
down. If Medea be another personification of morning and evening twilight,
then her dragons are rays of sunlight that precede her. More likely they are
part of the usual equipage of a witch, symbolizing wisdom, foreknowledge, swift-
ness, violence, and Oriental mystery.
Illustrative. The Argo, see Theodore Martin's translation of Catullus, LXIV
(Peleus and Thetis), for the memorable launch; Pope, St Cecilia's Day. Jason:
Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, I, i ; III, ii ; JEson : Merchant of Venice, V,
i; Absyrtus: 2 Henry VI, V, ii. Poems: Chaucer, Legende of Good Women,
1366 (Ysiphile and Medee) ; W. Morris, Life and Death of Jason ; Frederick
Tennyson, -^son and King Athamas (in Daphne and Other Poems). Thos.
Campbell's translation of the chorus in Euripides' Medea, beginning " Oh, hag-
gard queen 1 to Athens dost thou guide thy glowing chariot" Translations of
the Medea of Euripides have been made by Augusta Webster, 1868 ; by W. C.
Lawton (Three Dramas of Euripides) 1889; and by Wodhull.
In Art, The terra-cotta relief (Fig. 130, text) in the British Museum; the relief
from Naples, now in Vienna (Fig. 131). Figs. 132 and 133 as explained in text Also
the splendid Vengeance of Medea in the Louvre ; relief on a Roman sarcophagus.
168. Textual
Table K. The Descendants of iCxoLus (Son of Endymion)
Bndymion
I
Calydon Pleuron
I I
Epicaste = Agenor
>rthaon
Porthaon Demonice (Mars)
Thestius
Periboea (i) = (Bneu8 = (2) Altnaea Plexippus Toxeus Leda = (i) Tyndareus (Spoita
I I = (2) Jupiter
Tydeus I I , I
I M eleager . Dejanira = Hercules | [ [ ]
DJomede Castor Clytemnestra Pollux Hewo
by Tyndargus byjupittr
COMMENTARY 523
Also, in general, Table I.
For Calydoiiy see Index. The Arcadian Atalanta was descended from the
Areas who was son of Jupiter and Callisto. (See Table D.)
Interpretative. Atalanta is the " unwearied maiden." . She is the human counter-
part of the huntress Diana. The story has of course been allegorically explained,
but it bears numerous marks of local and historic origin.
IBustratiue, Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon; Margaret J. Preston, The
Quenched Branch ; Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV, II, ii ; 2 Henry VI, I, i.
In Art. The Meleager (sculpture), in the Vatican ; the Roman reliefs as in
text. The original of Fig. 135 is in the Louvre.
169. The Merope story has been dramatized by Maffei (1713), Voltaire (1743),
Alfieri (1783), and by others.
170-171. C. S. Calverley's The Sons of Leda, from Theocritus. Leda:
Spenser, Prothalamion ; Landor, Loss of Memory. Talus : the iron attendant of
Artegal, Spenser, Faerie Queene, 5, i, 12.
172. The Descendants of Minos I. (See also Table D.)
Table L
Jupiter = Europa
Minos I = Itone
I Helios = Persels
Lycastus I ^______^ Asteria = Perses
Minos n = FasipnatS Circe ^Eetes = Hecate
I
1 Medea
Crateus Phsedra Ariadne
I = Theseus = Theseus
ASrope
= Atreus
Interpretative. Discrimination between Minos I and Minos II is made in the
text, but is rarely observed. Minos, according to Preller, is the solar king and
hero of Crete; his wife, Pasiphae, is the moon (who was worshiped in Crete
under the form of a cow) ; and the Minotaur is the lord of the starry heavens
which are his labyrinth. Others make Pasiphae, whose name means shiner upon
all, the bright heaven ; and Minos (in accordance with his name, the Man, par
excellence) y the thinker and measurer. A lawgiver on earth, the Homeric Minos
readily becomes a judge in Hades. Various fanciful interpretations, such as
storm cloud, sun, etc., are given of the bull. Cox explains the Minotaur as night,
devouring all things. The tribute from Athens may suggest some early suzerainty
in politics and religion exercised by Crete over neighboring lands. For Maeander,
see Pope, Rape of the Lock, 5, 65; Dunciad, i, 64; 3, 55.
173. Interpretative. Daedalus is a representative of the earliest technical skill,
especially in wood-cutting, carving, and the plastic arts used for industrial pur-
poses. His flight from one land to another signifies the introduction of inventions
into the countries concerned. The fall of Icarus was probably invented to explain
the name of the Icarian Sea.
524
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
lOustrative. Daedalus : Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 409. Icarus : Shakespeare,
I Henry VI, IV, vi; IV, vii; 3 Henry VI, V, vi; poem on Icarus by Bayard
Taylor ; travesty by J. G. Saxe.
In Art. Sculpture: Fig. 138, in text: Villa Albani, Rome; Canova's Daedalus
and Icarus ; painting by J. M. Vien ; also by A. Pisano (Campanile, Florence).
174. The descendants of £richthonius are as follows :
Table M
Jupiter
Tantalus
Pelops
Brichthonias
Fandion I
I
Pittheus
Atreus
Thyestes
Erecl
.XtDia, =
[itheus Procne Philomela
Pandion II
^geas
= i) Ariadne
d. of Minos II
Theseus
= 2) Antiope (Hippolyta)
Hippol3rtii8
Creusa
= (i) Apollo = (a) Xuthus
Ion
= 3) Phaedra
d. of Minos II
Cecrops (see 65). According to one tradition, Cecrops was autochthonous and
had one son, Erysichthon, who died without issue, and three daughters, Herse,
Aglauros, and Pandrosos (personifications of Dew and its vivifying influences).
According to another, he was of the line of Erichthonius, being either a son of
Pandion I, or a son of Erechtheus and a grandson of Pandion I. ApoUodorus makes
him father of Pandion II. He was regarded as founder of the worship of Athene
and of various civic institutions. He is probably a hero of the Pelasgian race.
Ion. According to one tradition, the race of Erechtheus became extinct, save
for Ion, a son of Apollo and Creiisa, daughter of Erechtheus. This son, having
been removed at birth, was brought up in Apollo's temple at Delphi, and, in
accordance with the oracle of Apollo, afterwards adopted by Creiisa and her hus«
band Xuthus (see the Ion of Euripides). Ion founded the new dynasty of Athens.
But, according to Pausanias and ApoUodorus, the dynasty of Erechtheus was con-
tinued by JEgeuSy who was either a son, or an adopted son, of Pandion II. By
iEthra he became father of Theseus, in whose veins flowed, therefore, the blood
of Pelops and of Erichthonius.
Interpretative. The story of Philomela was probably invented to account for
the sad song of the nightingale. With her the swallow is associated as another
much loved bird of spring. Occasionally Procne is spoken of as the nightingale, and
Philomela as the swallow, and Tereus as taking the form of a red-crested hoopoe.
Ittustratwe. Chaucer, Legende of Good Women (Philomene of Athens) ; Milton,
II Penseroso; Richard Bamfield, Song, ''As it fell upon a day"; Thomson,
Hymn on the Seasons; Swinburne, Itylus; Oscar Wilde, The Burden of Itys;
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd*s drama, Ion.
COMMENTARY 525
176-181. Troezen: in Argolis. According to some the Amazonian wife of
Theseus was Hippolyta, but her Hercules had already killed. Theseus is said to
haVe united the several tribes of Attica into one state, of which Athens was the
capital. In commemoration of this important event, he instituted the festival of
Panathensa, in honor of Athene, the patron deity of Athens. This festival dif-
fered from the other Grecian games chiefly in two particulars. It was peculiar to
the Athenians, and its chief feature was a solemn procession in which the Peplus,
or sacred robe of Athene, was carried to the Parthenon, and left on or before
the statue of the goddess. The Peplus was covered with embroidery, worked by
select virgins of the noblest families in Athens. The procession consisted of per-
sons of all ages and both sexes. The old men carried olive branches in their
hands, and the young men bore arms. The young women carried baskets on their
heads, containing the sacred utensils, cakes, and all things necessary for the sacri-
fices. The procession formed the subject of the bas-reliefs which embellished the
frieze of the temple of the Parthenon. A considerable portion of these sculptures
is now in the British Museum among those known as the ** Elgin Marbles." We
may mention here the other celebrated national games of the Greeks. The first
and most distinguished were the Olympic, founded, it was said, by Zeus him-
self. They were celebrated at Olympia in Elis. Vast numbers of spectators
flocked to them from every part of Greece, and from Asia, Africa, and Sicily.
They were repeated every fifth year in midsummer, and continued five days. They
gave rise to the custom of reckoning time and dating events by Olympiads. The
first Olympiad is generally considered as beginning with the year 776 B.C. The
Pythian games were celebrated in the vicinity of Delphi, the Isthmian on
the Corinthian isthmus, the Nemean at Nemea, a city of Argolis. The exer-
cises in these games were chariot-racing, running, leaping, wrestling, throwing
the quoit, hurling the javelin, and boxing. Besides these exercises of bodily
strength and agility, there were contests in music, poetry, and eloquence. Thus
these games furnished poets, musicians, and authors the best opportunities to
present their productions to the public, and the fame of the victors was diffused
far and wide.
Interpretative. Theseus is the Attic counterpart of Hercules, not so significant
in moral character, but eminent for numerous similar labors, and preeminent as
the mythical statesman of Athens. His story may, with the usual perilous facility,
be explained as a solar myth. Periphetes may be a storm cloud with its thunder-
bolts ; the Marathonian Bull and the Minotaur may be forms of the power of
darkness hidden in the starry labyrinth of heaven. Like Hercules, Theseus fights
with the Amazons (clouds, we may suppose, in some form or other), and, like him,
he descends to the underworld. Ariadne may be another twilight-sweetheart of
the sun, and, like Medea and Dejanira, she must be deserted. She is either the
" well-pleasing " or the " saintly." She was, presumably, a local nature-goddess of
Naxos and Crete, who, in process of time, like Medea, sank to the condition of a
heroine. Probably from her goddess-existence the marriage with Bacchus sur-
vived, to be incorporated later with the Attic myth of Theseus. As the female
526 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
semblance of Bacchus, she appears to have been a promoter of vegetation ; and,
like Proserpina, she alternated between the joy of spring and the melancholy of
winter. By some she is considered to be connected with star-worship as a
moon-goddess.
lUustrative. Chaucer, The Knight's Tale (for Theseus and Ypolita) ; The Hous
of Fame, 407, and the Legende of Good Women, 1884, for Ariadne ; Shakespeare,
Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV, i ; Midsummer Night's Dream, II, ii (Hippolyta and
Theseus) ; Shakespeare and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen. In Beaumont and
Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, II, ii, a tapestry is ordered to be worked illustrating
Theseus' desertion of Ariadne. Landor, To Joseph Ablett, "Bacchus is coming
down to drink to Ariadne's love " ; Landor, Theseus, and Hippolyta ; Mrs. Brown-
ing, Paraphrase on Nonnus (Bacchus and Ariadne), Paraphrase on Hesiod; Sir
Theodore Martin, Catullus, LXIV. Other poems : B. W. Procter, On the Statue
of Theseus; Frederick Tennyson, Ariadne (Daphne and Other Poems); Mrs.
Hemans, The Shade of Theseus ; R. S. Ross, Ariadne in Naxos ; J. S. Blackie,
Ariadne; W. M. W. Call, Ariadne; Mrs. H. H. Jackson, Ariadne's Farewell
Phaedra and Hippolytus: The Hippolytus of Euripides; Swinburne, Phaedra;
• Browning, Artemis Prologizes ; M. P. Fitzgerald, The Crowned Hippolytus ; A.
Mary F. Robinson, The Crowned Hippolytus ; L. Morris, Phaedra (Epic of Hades).
On Cecrops : J. S. Blackie, The Naming of Athens ; Erechtheus, by A. C. Swinburne.
In Art. Theseus : the original- of Fig. 140, text is in the Hermitage, in
Petrograd; of Fig. 141 in the Naples Museum. The Battle with the Amazons
frequently recurs in ancient sculpture. The sleeping Ariadne, of the Vatican,
Fig. 142, text. Also the Revels as in text. Fig. 144. Modem Sculpture : the
Theseus of Canova (Volksgarten, Vienna) ; the Ariadne of Dannecker. Paint-
ings : Tintoretto's Ariadne and Bacchus ; Teschendorff' s Ariadne ; Titian's
Bacchus and Ariadne.
182-189. The Royal Family of Thebes.
Table N
Aeenor
I
Cadmus
( ^
A^ve (Echion) Polydorus
Pentheus Labdacus
Menoeceus I
Creon Jocasta = Lains
Menoeceus II Haemon (Edipns = Jocasta
Bteocles Polsmices Antlgone^ Inaene
lUustrative, (Bdipus: Plumptre's translation of CEdipus the King, (Edipus
CoJoneus, and Antigone; Shelley, Swellfoot the Tyrant; E. Fitzgerald, The
COMMENTARY
527
Downfall and Death of King CEdipus; Sir F. H. Doyle, CEdipus Tyrannus;
Aubrey De Vere, Antigone ; Emerson, The Sphinx ; W. B. Scott, The Sphinx ;
M. Arnold, Fragment of an "Antigone." Tiresias: by Swinburne, Tennyson,
and Thomas Woolner.
In Art. Ancient : CEdipus and the Sphinx (in Monuments In^dits, Rome and
Paris, 1839-1878). Modern paintings: TeschendorfTs CEdipus and Antigone,
Antigone and Ismene, and Antigone ; CEdipus and the Sphinx, by J. D. A.
Ingres; The Sphinx, by D. G. Rossetti.
Of the stories told in these and the following sections no systematic, alle-
gorical, or physical interpretations are here given, because (i) the general method
followed by the unravelers of myth has already been sufficiently illustrated ; (2)
the attempt to force symbolic conceptions into the longer folk-stories, or into the
artistic myths and epics of any country, is historically unwarranted and, in
practice, is only too often capricious ; (3) the effort to interpret such stories as
the Iliad and the Odyssey must result in destroying those elements of uncon-
scious simplicity and romantic vigor that characterize the early products of the
creative imagination.
190-194. Houses concerned in the Trojan War.
Table O
(i) Family of Peleus and its connections :
Asopiis
r
Jupiter = iEgina
JEacub
Nereiis = Doris
Telamon Pelens = Thetis
= (i) Eriboea = (2) Hesione
Ajax
Teucer
Achilles
IVrrhus (Neoptolemus)
= Hennione
d. of Menelaiis and Helen
(2) Family of Atreus and its connections
Jupiter
Minos I
I
Lycastus
.1
Mmos II
Crateus
Tantalus
Pelops = Hippodamia
=^l
I
amemnon
lytemnestra
Aerope = Atreas
I
Menelaiis
= Helen
Thyestes Pittheus
MgisthVLS iEthra
(^gcus)
I ~ I Theseus
Iphigenia Electia Chrysothemis Orestes Hennione Hippolytus
^ ^i) Neoptolemus '
528
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
(3) Family of Tyndareus and its connections :
iEolus
Peneres
Icarius
Penelope
Tyndareus
Thestius
= Leda =
Jupiter
1
Castor Clytemnestra Pollux
Helen
= f i) Menelaiis
= (2) Paris
Castor and Pollux are called sometimes Dioscuri (sons of Jove), sometimes
Tyndaridae (sons of Tyndareus). Helen is frequently called Tyndaris, daughter
of Tyndareus.
(4) Descent of Ulysses and Penelope :
HeUen
iEolus
I
Peneres
Icarius
Penelope
(Ulysses) |
I Castor
Telemachus
1
Tyndareus
(Leda)
Clytemnestra
Cephalus
(Prt)cris)
Arcesius
I
Laertes
Ulysses
—I
Deion
L_
Actor
Menoetius
Patroclas
(5) The Royal Family of Troy :
lapetus (Titan)
Atlas
Electra (Pleiad) =: Jupiter
Dardanus =
I
Erichthonius
I
Tros
Teacer
I
Batea
Ilus II
Laomedon
Aurora = Tithonus
I
Memnon
\
Hesione
(Telamon)
Teacer
Hecuba = Priam
Assaracus
I
Capy?
I
I I i
Hector Paris Deiphobus Helenus Troilus Cassandra Creiisa
= Andromache = (i) CEnone =Mneas
= (2) Helen
Anchises = Venus
I
.Sneas = Crefiia
Ascanini
(lulus)
I
Astyanax
Polyxena
195. On the Iliad and on Troy : Keats, Sonnet on Chapman's Homer ; Milton*
Paradise Lost, i, 578; 9, 16; II Penseroso, 100; Hartley Coleridge, Sonnet on
COMMENTARY 529
Homer ; T. B. Aldrich, Pillared Arch and Sculptured Tower ; the Sonnets of Lang
and Myers prefixed to Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation of the Iliad. On the
Judgment of Paris : George Peele, Arraignment of Paris ; James Beattie, Judg-
ment of Paris ; Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women ; J. S. Blackie, Judgment of
Paris. See, for allusions, Shakespeare, All *s Well that Ends Well, I, ii, iii ; Henry
V, II, iv ; Troilus and Cressida, I, i ; II, ii ; III, i ; Romeo and Juliet, I, ii ; II,
iv; IV, i; V, iii. On Helen: A. Lang, Helen of Troy, and his translation
of Theocritus, Idyl XVIII; Landor, Menelalis and Helen; John Todhunter,
Helena in Troas ; G. P. Lathrop, Helen at the Loom (Atlantic Monthly , Vol. 32,
1873). See Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, I, i; III, ii; IV, i; All's
Well that Ends Well, I, i, iii ; II, ii ; Romeo and Juliet, II, iv ; Troilus and
Cressida, II, ii ; Marlowe, Faustus (Helen appears before Faust).
In Art. Homer : the sketch by Raphael (in the Museum, Venice). Paris and
Helen. Paintings: Helen of Troy, Sir Frederick Leighton ; Paris and Helen, by
David ; The Judgment of Paris, by Rubens ; by Watteau. Sculpture : Canova's
Paris. Crayons : D. G. Rossetti's Helen ; see also Fig. 1 50, as in text (ancient
relief, Naples).
196. Iphigenia and Agamemnon. Sometimes, in accordance with Goethe's
practice, the name Tauris is given to the land of the Tauri. To be correct one
should say, " Iphigenia among the Tauri," or ** Taurians." (See Index.) Iphigenia
and Agamemnon by W. S. Landor ; also his Shades of Agamemnon and Iphigenia;
Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia ; Richard Gamett, Iphigenia in Delphi ; Sir Edwin
Arnold, Iphigenia ; W. B. Scott, Iphigenia at Aulis. Any translations of Goethe's
Iphigenia in Tauris, and of Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis and Among the Tauri ;
also of iEschylus' Agamemnon, — such as those by Milman, Anna Swanwick,
Plumptre, E. A. Morshead, J. S. Blackie, E. Fitzgerald, and Robert Browning.
For Agamemnon, see Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, I, iii ; II, i, iii ; III,
iii; IV, v; V, i; and James Thomson, Agamemnon (a drama). The Troilus and
Cressida story is not found in Greek and Latin classics. Shakespeare follows
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, which is based upon the Filostrato and the
Filocolo of Boccaccio. Pandams : the character of this name, uncle of Cressida,
to be found in Lydgate, Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, and Shakespeare's play
of the same title, enjoys an unsavory reputation for which medieval romance is
responsible. On Menelaus, see notes to Helen and Agamemnon.
In Art, Iphigenia. Paintings: Fig. 152, text (Museum, Naples); E. Hiibner;
William Kaulbach ; E. Teschendorff.
199. Achilles. Chaucer, Hous of Fame, 398 ; Dethe of Blaunche, 329 ; Landor,
Peleus and Thetis; Robert Bridges, Achilles in Scyros; Sir Theodore Martin,
translation of Catullus, LXIV; translation by C. M. Gayley as quoted in text
See also Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida ; 2 Henry VI, V, i ; Love's Labour 's
Lost, V, ii ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 9, 1 5.
In Art, In general, Figs. 151, 153, 155-156, 159-162, in text; Wiertz, Fight
for the Body of Achilles (Wiertz Museum, Brussels) ; Bume-Jones, The Feast
of Peleus (picture).
530 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
304. Ajaz. Plumptre, Ajax of Sophocles ; Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida,
Love's Labour *s Lost, IV, iii ; V, ii ; Taming of the Shrew, III, i ; Antony and
Cleopatra, IV, ii ; King Lear, II, ii ; Cymbeline, IV, ii; George Crabbe, The Village.
In Art. The ancient sculpture, Ajax (or Menelaiis) of the Vatican. Modem
sculpture, The Ajax of Canova. Flaxman's outline drawings for the Iliad.
207. Hector and Andromache. Mrs. Browning, Hector and Andromache, a
paraphrase of Homer ; C. T. Brooks, Schiller's Parting of Hector and Androm-
ache. See also Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida ; Love's Labour 's Lost, V, ii ;
2 Henry IV, II, iv; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, viii.
In Art. Flaxman's outline sketches of the Fight for the Body of Patroclus,
Hector dragged by Achilles, Priam supplicating Achilles, Hector's Funeral,
Andromache fainting on the Walls of Troy ; Canova's Hector (sculpture) ; Thor-
waldsen's Hector and Andromache (relief) (Fig. 154, text). Hector, Ajax^ Paris,
i^neas, Patroclus, Teucer, etc., among the Mgina, Marbles (Glyptothek, Munich).
The Pasquino group (Fig. 158, in text) is from a copy in the Pitti, Florence.
216. Priam and Hecuba. The translations of Euripides' Hecuba and Troades ;
Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida ; Coriolanus, I, iii ; Cymbeline, IV, ii ; Hamlet,
II, ii ; 2 Henry IV, I, i.
219-220. Polyzena. W. S. Landor, The Espousals of Polyxena. Philoctetes:
translation of Sophocles by Plumptre ; sonnet by Wordsworth ; drama by Lord de
Tabley.
221. (Bnone. See A. Lang, Helen of Troy ; W. Morris, Death of Paris (Earthly
Paradise) ; Landor, Corythos (son of CEnone), the Death of Paris, and Q£none»'
Tennyson, CEnone, also the Death of CEnone, which is not so good.
The pathetic story of the death of Corythus, the son of CEnone and Paris, at
the hands of his father, who was jealous of Helen's tenderness toward the youth,
is a later myth.
228. Sinon. Shakespeare, 3 Henry VI, III, ii; Cymbeline, III, iv; Jitus
Andronicus, V, iii.
224. Laocoon. L. Morris, in The Epic of Hades. See Frothingham's translation
of Lessing's Laocoon (a most important discussion of the Laocoon group and of
principles of sesthetics). See also Swift's Description of a City Shower.
In Art. The original of the celebrated group (statuary) of Laocoon and hb
children in the embrace of the serpents is in the Vatican in Rome. (See text,
opp. p. 310.)
226. Cassandra. Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; Dethe of Blaunche, 1246.
Poems by W. M. Praed and D. G. Rossetti. See Troilus and Cressida, I, i; II, ii;
V, iii ; Lord Lytton's translation of Schiller's Cassandra.
In Art. The Cassandra of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (in ink).
228-280. Electra and Orestes. Translations of the Electra of Sophocles, the
Libation-pourers and the Eumenides of iEschylus, by Plumptre ; and of the
Orestes and Electra of Euripides, by WodhuU. Lord de Tabley, Orestes (a
drama) ; Byron, Childe Harold, 4 ; Milton, sonnet, " The repeated air Of sad
Electra's poet," etc.
COMMENTARY 53 1
In Art. Graeco-Roman sculpture: Fig. 169, in text, Orestes and Pylades find
Iphigenia among the Taurians. Pompeian Fresco; Orestes and Electra (Villa
Ludovisi, Rome) ; Orestes and Electra (National Museum, Naples). Vase-paint-
ings: Figs. 167-168 in text; also Orestes slaying iEgisthus; Orestes at Delphi;
Purification of Orestes. Modem paintings : Electra, by Teschendorf! and by Seifert.
Clytemnestra, The Death of, by W. S. Landor ; Clytemnestra, by L. Morris,
in The Epic of Hades.
Troy : Byron, in his Bride of Abydos, thus describes the appearance of the
deserted scene where once stood Troy :
The winds are high, and Helle's tide
Rolls darkly heaving to the main ;
And Night's descending shadows hide
That field with blood bedew'd in vain,
The desert of old Priam's pride ;
The tombs, sole relics of his reign,
All — save immortal dreams that could beguile
The blind old man of Scio's rocky isle 1
On Troy the following references will be valuable : H. W. Acland, The Plains
of Troy, 2 vols. (London, 1839) ; H. Schliemann, Troy and its Remains (London,
1875); I^^^s (London, 1881); Troja, results of latest researches on the site of
Homer's Troy (London, 1882) ; W. J. Armstrong, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 33, p. 173
(1874), Over Ilium and Ida ; R. C. Jebb,_/^«r. Hellenic Studies, Vol. 2, p. 7, Homeric
and Hellenic Ilium; Fortn. Review, N. S. Vol. 35, p. 4331 (1884), Homeric Troy
231-244. The Odyssey: Lang, Sonnet, "As one that for a weary space has
lain," prefixed to Butcher and Lang's Odyssey. Translations by W. Morris, G. H.
Palmer, Chapman, Bryant, Pope. Ulysses : Tennyson ; Landor, The Last of
Ulysses. See also Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida; 3 Henry VI, III, ii;
Coriolanus, I, iii ; Milton, Paradise Lost, 2, 1019 ; Comus, 637 ; R. Buchanan,
Cloudland; Pope, Rape of the Lock, 4, 182; Stephen Phillips, Ulysses; Robert
Bridges, The Return of Ulysses; R. C. Rogers, Odysseus at the Mast, Blind
Polyphemus, Argus.
In Art. Statuettes, vase-paintings, and reliefs as in text, Figs. 170-180; also
Ulysses summoning Tiresias (in Monuments Inedits, Rome and Paris, 1839-1878) ;
Meeting with Nausicaa (Gerhard's vase pictures) ; outline drawings of Ulysses
weeping at the song of Demodocus, boring out the eye of Polyphemus, Ulysses
killing the suitors. Mercury conducting the souls of the suitors, Ulysses and his
dog, etc., by Flaxman.
Penelope : Poems by R. Buchanan, E. C. Stedman, and W. S. Landor. In
ancient sculpture, the Penelope in the Vatican. Modem painting by C. F.
Marchal. In crayons by D. G. Rossetti.
Circe : M. Arnold, The Strayed Reveller ; Hood, Lycus, the Centaur ; D. G.
Rossetti, The Wine of Circe ; Saxe, The Spell of Circe. See Shakespeare, Comedy
of Errors, V, i; i Henry VI, V, iii; Milton, Comus, 50, 153, 253, 522; Pope,
Satire 8, 166; Cowper, Progress of Error; O. W. Holmes, Metrical Essay; Keats,
532 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Endymion, " I sue not for my happy crown again," etc. Circe and the Compan-
ions of Ulysses, a painting by Briton Riviere. Circe, in crayons.
On Sirens and ScylU see C. 50-62 ; S. Daniel, Ulysses and the Siren ; Lowell,
The Sirens. Scylla and Charybdis have become proverbial to denote opposite
dangers besetting one's course. Siren, in crayons ; Sea- Spell, in oil, D. G. Rossetti.
CaljTpso : Pope, Moral Essays, 2, 45 ; poem by Edgar Fawcett (Putnam'' s Mag.<,
14, 1869). F^nelon, in his romance of Telemachus, has given us the adventures
of the son of Ulysses in search of his father. Among other places which he visited,
following on his father's footsteps, was Calypso's isle ; as in the former case, the
goddess tried every art to keep the youth with her, and offered to share her immor-
tality with him. But Minerva, who, in the shape of Mentor, accompanied him and
governed all his movements, made him repel her allurements. Finally, when no
other means of escape could be found, the two friends leaped from a cliff into the
sea and swam to a vessel which lay becalmed offshore. Byron alludes to this leap
of Telemachus and Mentor in the stanza of Childe Harold beginning ** But not in
silence pass Calypso's isles" (2, 29). Calypso's isle is said to be Goza.
Homer's description of the ships of the Phxacians has been thought to look
like an anticipation of the wonders of modem steam navigation. See the address
of Alcinous to Ulysses, promising ** wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with
mind," etc. (Odyssey, 8).
Lord Carlisle, in his Diary in the Turkish and Greek Waters, thus speaks of
Corfu, which he considers to be the ancient Phseacian island :
" The sites explain the Odyssey. The temple of the sea-god could not have
been more fitly placed, upon a grassy platform of the most elastic turf, on the
brow of a crag commanding harbor, and channel, and ocean. Just at the entrance
of the inner harbor there is a picturesque rock with a small convent perched upon
it, which by one legend is the transformed pinnace of Ulysses.
" Almost the only river in the island is just at the proper distance from the
probable site of the city and palace of the king, to justify the princess Nausicaa
having had resort to her chariot and to luncheon when she went with the maidens
of the court to wash their garments."
245-254. Poems : Tennyson, To Virgil, of which a few stanzas are given in the
text ; R. C. Rogers, Virgil's Tomb. .Sneas and Anchises : Chaucer, Hous of Fame,
165 J 140-470 (pictures of Troy) ; Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida ; Tempest, II,i;
2 Henry VI, V, ii ; Julius Caesar, I, ii ; Antony and Cleopatra, IV, ii ; Hamlet, II, ii;
Waller, Panegyric to the Lord Protector (The Stilling of Neptune's Storm).
Dido : Chaucer, Legende of Good Women, 923 ; Sir Thomas Wyatt, The Song of
lopas (unfinished) ; Marlowe, Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage ; Shakespeare,
Antony and Cleopatra, IV, xii ; Titus Andronicus, II, iii ; Hamlet, II, ii. PalinnnM :
see Scott's Marmion, Introd. to Canto I (with reference to the death of William Pitt).
The Sibyl. The following legend of the Sibyl is fixed at a later date. In the
reign of one of the Tarquins there appeared before the king a woman who offered
him nine books for sale. The king refused to purchase them, whereupon the
woman went away and burned three of the books, and returning offered the
COMMENTARY 533
remaining books for the same price she had asked for the nine. The king again
rejected them ; but when the woman, after burning three books more, returned
and asked for the three remaining the same price which she had before asked for
the nine, his curiosity was excited, and he purchased the books. They were found
to contain the destinies of the Roman state. They were kept in the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus, preserved in a stone chest, and allowed to be inspected only
by especial officers appointed for that duty, who on great occasions consulted
them and interpreted their oracles to the people.
There were various Sibyls ; but the Cumsean Sibyl, of whom Ovid and Virgil
write, is the most celebrated of them. Ovid's story of her life protracted to one
thousand years may be intended to represent the various Sibyls as being only
reappearances of one and the same individual.
IBustrative. Young, in the Night Thoughts, alludes to the Sibyl. See also
Shakespeare, i Henry VI, II, ii ; Othello, III, iv.
In Art. Figs. 181-183, in text. The Virgil of Raphael (drawing in the Museum,
Venice) ; the Mneas of the iEgina Marbles (Glyptothek, Munich). P. Gu^rin's
painting, iEneas at the Court of Dido ; Raphael, Dido ; Turner, Dido building
Carthage. The Sibyls in Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Rome;
the Cumaean Sibyl of Domenichino ; Elihu Vedder's Cumaean Sibyl.
255-257. Rhadamanthus : £. W. Gosse, The Island of the Blest Tantalus:
Cowper, The Progress of Error ; L. Morris, Epic of Hades ; W. W. Story, Tantalus.
Ixion : poem by Browning in Jocoseria. See Pope, St. Cecilia's Day, 67 ; Rape
of the Lock, 2, 133-. Sisjrphus: Lord Lytton, Death and Sisyphus; L. Morris,
in The Epic of Hades.
The teachings of Anchises to i^neas, respecting the nature of the human
soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras
(born about 540 B.C.) was a native of the island of Samos, but passed the chief
portion of his life at Crotona in Italy. He is therefore sometimes called " the
Samian," and sometimes " the philosopher of Crotona." When young he traveled
extensively and is said to have visited Egypt, where he was instructed by the
priests, and afterwards to have journeyed to the East, where he visited the Per-
sian and Chaldean Magi, and the Brahmins of India. He established himself at
Crotona, and enjoined sobriety, temperance, simplicity, and silence upon his
throngs of disciples. //>sg dixit (Pythagoras said so) was to be held by them as
sufficient proof of anything. Only advanced pupils might question. Pythagoras
considered numbers as the essence and principle of all things, and attributed to
them a real and distinct existence ; so that, in his view, they were the elements
out of which the universe was constructed.
As the numbers proceed from the monad or unit, so he regarded the pure and
simple essence of the Deity as the source of all the forms of nature. Gods,
demons, and heroes are emanations of the Supreme, and there is a fourth
emanation, the human soul. This is immortal, and when freed from the fetters of
the body, passes to the habitation of the dead, where it remains till it returns to
the world, to dwell in some other human or animal body ; at last, when sufficiently
534 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
purified, it returns to the source from which it proceeded. This doctrine of the
transmigration of souls (metempsychosis), which was originally Egyptian and con-
nected with the doctrine of reward and punishment of human actions, was the
chief reason why the Pythagoreans killed no animals. Ovid represents Pythagoras
saying that in the time of the Trojan War he was Euphorbus, the son of Panthus,
and fell by the spear of Menelaiis. Lately, he said, he had recognized his shield
hanging among the trophies in the Temple of Juno at Argos.
On Metempsychosis^ see the essay in the Spectator (No. 343) on the Transmi-
gration of Souls ; Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice (Gratiano to Shylock).
Harmony of the Spheres. The relation of the notes of the musical scale to
numbers, whereby harmony results from proportional vibrations of sound, and
discord from the reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word harmony to the
visible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to each other. This is
the idea which Dryden expresses in the beginning of his song for St Cecilia's
Day, " From harmony, from heavenly harmony. This everlasting frame began."
In the center of the universe (as Pythagoras taught) there was a central fire,
the principle of life. The central fire was surrounded by the earth, the moon, the
sun, and the five planets. The distances of the various heavenly bodies from one
another were conceived to correspond to the proportions of the musical scale.
See Merchant of Venice, Act V (Lorenzo and Jessica), for the Music of the
Spheres; also Milton, Hymn on the Nativity. See Longfellow's Verses to a
Child, and Occultation of Orion, for Pythagoras as inventor of the lyre.
260. Camilla. Pope, illustrating the rule that *^ the sound should be an echo
. to the sense," says :
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line, too, labors and the words move slow ;
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er th' unbending com, or skims along the main.
Essay on Criticism.
268-281. On Norse mythology, see R. B. Anderson, Norse Mythology, or the
Religion of our Forefathers (Chicago, 1875) » Anderson, Hom*s Scandinavian
Literature (Chicago, S. C. Griggs & Co., 1884) ; Dasent, Popular Tales from the
Norse (transl. from P. C. Asbjomsen, New York, 1859) ; Thorpe's translation of
Saemund's Edda, 2 vols. (London, 1866) ; Icelandic Poetry or Edda of Saemund,
transl. into English verse (Bristol, A. S. Cottle, 1797) ; Augusta Lamed, Tales
from the Norse Grandmother (New York, 1881); H. W. Mabie, Norse Stories
(Boston, 1882). A critical edition of the Elder Edda is Sophus Bugge's (Chris-
tiania, 1867). The Younger Edda: Edda Snorra Sturlasonar, 2 vols. (Hafniae,
1848-1852); by Thorleif Jonsson (Copenhagen, 1875); Translation: Anderson's
Youngfer Edda (Chicago, S. C. Griggs & Co., 1880) (see references at foot of pp.
458-461 and in C. 282). Illustrative poems : Gray, Ode on the Descent of OdiOf
Ode on the Fatal Sisters ; Matthew Arnold, Balder Dead ; Longfellow, Tegn^r's
Drapa, on Balder's Death; William Morris, The Funeral of Balder, in The
Lovers of Gudrun (Earthly Paradise) ; Robert Buchanan, Balder the Beautiftili
COMMENTARY 535
W. M. W. Call, Balder ; and Thor. Sydney DobelPs Balder does not rehearse the
Norse myth. It is a poem dealing with the spiritual maladies of the time, excellent
in parts, but confused and uneven. Longfellow's Saga of King Olaf (the Musi-
cian's Tale, Wayside Inn) is from the Heimskringla, or Book of Stories of the
Kings, edited by Snorri Sturlason. Many of the cantos of the Saga throw light
on Norse mythology. See also the Hon. Roden Noel's Ragnarok (in the Modern
Faust), for an ethical modification of the ancient theme.
Anses (the Asa-folk, ^Esir, etc.). The word probably means ghost, ancestral
spirit, — of such kind as the Manes of the Romans. The derivation may be from
the root AN, * to breathe,' whence animus ( Vigfusson and Powell, Corp. Poet Bor.
I, 515). According to Jordanes, the Anses were demigods, ancestors of royal
races. The main cult of the older religion was ancestor-worship, Thor and Woden
being worshiped by a tribe, but each family having its own anses, or deified an-
cestors (Corp. Poet. Bor. 2, 413). Elf was another name used of spirits of the dead.
Later it sinks to the significance of ** fairy." Indeed, say Vigfusson and Powell,
half our ideas about fairies are derived from the heathen beliefs as to the spirits
of the dead, their purity, kindliness, homes in hillocks (cf. the Irish " folk of the
hills," Banshees, etc.) (Corp. Poet. Bor. 2, 418).
The Norse Religion consists evidently of two distinct strata: the lower, of
gods, that are personifications of natural forces, or deified heroes, with regu-
lar sacrifices, with belief in ghosts, etc. ; the upper, of doctrines introduced by
Christianity. To the latter belong the Last Battle to be fought by Warrior- Angels
and the Elect against the Beast, the Dragon, and the Demons of Fire (Corp.
Poet Bor. 2, 459).
Odin or Woden was first the god of the heaven, or heaven itself, then husband
of earth, god of war and of wisdom, lord of the ravens, lord of the gallows (which
was called Woden's tree or Woden's steed). Frigga is Mother Earth. Thor is the
lord of the hammer — the thunderbolt, the adversary of giants and all oppressors
of man. He is dear to man, always connected with earth, — the husband of Sif
(the Norse Ceres). His goat-drawn car makes the rumbling of the thunder. Freyr
means lord; patron of the Swedes, harvest-god. Balder means also lord or king.
On the one hand, his attributes recall those of Apollo ; on the other hand, his story
appeals to, and is colored by, the Christian imagination. He is another figure of
that radiant type to which belong all bright and genial heroes, righters of wrong,
blazing to consume evil, gentle and strong to uplift weakness : Apollo, Hercules,
Perseus, Achilles, Sigurd, St George, and many another. H&der is the " adversary."
Nanna, Balder's wife, is the ensample of constancy; her name is maiden.
282. The Volsunga Saga. The songs of the Elder Edda, from which Eirikr
Magniisson and William Morris draw their Story of the Volsungs and the Nibe-
lungs (London, 1870), are The Lay of Helgi the Hunding's-Bane, The Lay of
Sigrdrifa, The Short Lay of Sigurd, The Hell-Ride of Brynhild, The Lay of
Brynhild, The Ancient Lay of Gudrun, The Song of Atli, The Whetting of Gudrun,
The Lay of Hamdir, The Lament of Oddrun. For translations of these fragments,
see pp. 167-270 of the volume mentioned above. For the originals and literal
536 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
translations of these and other Norse lays of importance, see Vigfusson and
Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale ; and Vigfusson's Sturlunga Saga, 2 vols. For
the story of Sigurd, read William Morris* spirited epic, Sigurd the Volsung.
Illustrative of the Norse spirit are MotherwelPs Battle-Flag of Sigurd, the Wooing
Song of Jarl Egill Skallagrim, and the Sword Chant of Thorstein Raudi ; also
Dora Greenwell's Battle-Flag of Sigurd; and Charles Kingsley*s Longbeard's
Saga, in Hypatia. Baldwin's Story of Siegfried (New York, 1888) is a good intro-
duction for young people.
283. The Nibelungenlied. The little book entitled Echoes from Mist Land,
by Auber Forestier (Chicago, Griggs & Co., 1877) will be of value to the beginner.
Other translations are made by A. G. Foster- Barham (London, 1887) ^^^ by W. N.
Lettsom, The Fall of the Nibelungers (London, 1874), both in verse. See also
T. Carlyle, Nibelungenlied (Crit. Miscell.), Essays, 2, 220. Modem German
editions by Simrock, Bartsch, Marbach, and Gerlach are procurable. The edition
by Werner Hahn (Uebersetzung d. Handschrift A, Collection Spemann, Berlin u.
Stuttgart) has been used in the preparation of this account The original was
published in part by Bodmer in 1757; later, in full by C. H. Myller, by K. K.
Lachmann (Nibelunge N6t mit der Klage, 1826) ; by K. F. Bartsch (Der Nibelunge
N6t, 2 vols, in 3, 1870-1880), and in Pfeiffer's Deutsch. Classik. des Mittelalt,Vol. 3,
(1872); and by others (see James ^voi^^^ Nibelungenlied^ Encyc. Brit.). Of some
effect in stimulating interest were Dr. W. Jordan's Studies and Recitations of the
Nibelunge, which comprised the Siegfried Saga, and Hildebrandt*s Return.
Especially of value is Richard Wagner's series of operas, The Ring of the Nibc-
lung, 284-288. In painting, Schnorr von Carolsfeld's wall pictures illustrative of
the Nibelungenlied, in the royal palace at Munich, are well known; also the
illustrations of the four operas by J. Hoffmann, and by Th. Pixis.
282-283. Historically, Siegfried has been identified, variously, with (i) the
great German warrior Arminius (or Hermann), the son of Sigimer, chief of the
tribe of the Cherusci, who inhabited the southern part of what is now Hanover
and Brunswick. Born 18 B.C. and trained in the Roman army, in the year 9 A.D.
he overcame with fearful slaughter the Roman tyrants of Germany, defeating the
Roman commander Varus and his legions in the Teutoburg Forest in the valley
of the Lippe; (2) Sigibert, king of the Ripuarian Franks, who in 508 a.d. was
treacherously slain while taking a midday nap in the forest; (3) Sigibert, king
of the Austrasian Franks whose history recalls more than one event of the Sigurd
and Siegfried stories ; for he discovered a treasure, fought with and overcame
foreign nations, — the Huns, the Saxons, the Danes, — and finally in consequence
of a quarrel between his wife Briinhilde and his sister-in-law Fredeg^nde, was, in
576 A.D., assassinated by the retainers of the latter ; (4) Julius, or Claudius Civilis,
the leader of the Batavi in the revolt against Rome, 69-70 a.d. It is probable
that in Sigurd and Siegfried we have recollections combined of two or more of
these historic characters.
Mythologically, Sigurd (of the shining eyes that no man might face unabashed)
has been regarded as a reflection of the god Balder.
COMMENTARY 537
Gunnar and Gunther are, historically, recognized in a slightly known king of
the Burgundians, Gundicar, who with his people was overwhelmed by the Huns
in 437 A.D.
Atli and £tzel are poetic idealizations of the renowned Hunnish chieftain,
Attila, who united under his rule the German and Slavonic nations, ravaged the
Eastern Roman Empire between 445 and 450 a.d., and, invading the Western
Empire, was defeated by the Romans in the great battle of Chalons-sur-Mame,
451. He died 454 a.d.
Dietrich of Berne (Verona) bears some very slight resemblance to Theodoric,
the Ostrogoth, who, between 493 and 526 a.d., ruled from Italy what had been
the Western Empire. In these poems, however, his earlier illustrious career is
overlooked ; he is merely a refugee in the court of the Hunnish king, and, even
so, is confounded with uncles of his who had been retainers of Attila; for the
historic Theodoric was not bom until two years after the historic Attila's death.
These historic figures were, of course, merely suggestions for, or contributions
to, the great heroes of the epics, not prototypes ; the same is true of any appar-
ently confirmed historic forerunners of Brynhild, or Gudrun, or Kriemhild. The
mythological connection of these epics with the Norse myths of the seasons,
Sigurd being Balder of the spring, and Hogni Hoder of winter and darkness, is
ingenious ; but, except as reminding us of the mythic material which the bards
were likely to recall and utilize, it is not of substantial worth.
In the Norse version, the name Nibelung is interchangeable with the patronymic
Giuking, — it is the name of the family that ruins Sigurd. But, in the German
version, the name is of purely mythical import : the Nibelungs are not a human
race; none but Siegfried may have intercourse with them. The land of the Nibe-
lungs is equally vague in the German poem ; it is at one time an island, again a
mountain, and in one manuscript it is confounded with Norway. But mythically
it is connected with Niflheim, the kingdom of Hela, the shadowy realm of death.
The earth, that gathers to her bosom the dead, cherishes also in her bosom the
hoard of gold. Naturally, therefore, the hoard is guarded by Alberich, the dwarf,
for dwarfs have always preferred the underworld. So (according to Werner
Hahn, and others) there is a deep mythical meaning in the Lay of the Nibelungs :
beings that dwell far from the light of day; or that, possessing the riches of
mortality, march toward the land of death.
284-'288. Wagner finished this series of operas in 1876. For a translation
the reader is referred to the four librettos, Englished by Frederick Jameson
(Schott & Co., London).: or to the series published by Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.,
New York.
298* Homer is also called Melesigenes, son of Meles — the stream on which
Sm3rma was built. The Homeridae, who lived on Chios, claimed to be descended
from Homer. They devoted themselves to the cultivation of epic poetry.
Arion. See George Eliot's poem beginning
Arion, whose melodic soul
Taught the dithyramb to roll
538 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Other Greek Poets of M3rthology to be noted are Callimachus (260 b.c.)>
whose Lock of Berenice is reproduced in the elegiacs of Catullus, and from whose
Origins (of sacred rites) Ovid drew much of his information. Also Nicandei
(150 B.C.), whose Transformations, and Parthenius, whose Metamorphoses fur-
nished material to the Latin poet. With Theocritus should be read Bion and
Moschus, all three masters of the idyl and elegy. See Andrew Lang's transla-
tion of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus; and the verses by Dobson and Gosse
with which Lang prefaces the translation. Lycophron (260 B.C.) wrote a poem
called Alexandra, on the consequences of the voyage of Paris to Sparta. The
Loves of Hero and Leander were probably written by a g^rammarian, Miissii8|
as late as 500 a.d.
Translations of Greek Poets. The best verse translations of Homer are those
of Chapman, Pope, the Earl of Derby, Cowper, and Worsley.
An excellent prose translation of the Iliad is that of Lang, Leaf, and Myers
(London, Macmillan & Co., 1889); of the Odyssey, that by Butcher and Lang
(London, Macmillan & Co., 1883); -O'" ^^® translation into rhythmical prose by
G. H. Palmer (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1892).
The Tragic Poets. Plumptre's translations of iEschylus and Sophocles, 2 vols.
(New York, Routledge, 1882); A. S. Way's translation of Euripides, into verse
(London, 1894); Wodhull, Potter, and Milman's translation of Euripides in Mor-
ley*s Universal Library (London, Routledge, 1888); Potter's iEschylus, Francklin*s
Sophocles, WodhulPs Euripides, 5 vols. (London, 1809). Other translations of
iEschylus are J. S. Blackie*s (1850); T. A. Buckley's (London, Bohn, 1848);
E. A. A. Morshead's (1881); and VerralPs; — of Sophocles: Thos. Dale's, into
verse, 2 vols. (1824); R. Whitelaw's, into verse (1883); Lewis Campbell's Seven
Plays, into verse (1883) ; — of Euripides : T. A. Buckley's, 2 vols. (London, Bohn,
1854-1858); and Verrall's.
Other Poets. Lang's prose translation of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus ;
C. S. Calverley's verse translation of Theocritus (Boston, 1906). Pindar, — Odes,
transl. by F. A. Paley (London, 1868); by Ernest Myers (London, 1874). Trans-
lations of Greek Lyric Poets, — Collections from the Greek Anthology, by Bland
and Merivale (London, 1833); The Greek Anthology, by Lord Neaves, Ancient
Classics for English Readers Series (London, 1874); Bohn's Greek Anthology, by
Burges (London, 1852).
On Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus, the tragic poets, Pindar, etc., see also Collins'
excellent series of Ancient Classics for English Readers, Philadelphia (Lippincott);
and the series entitled " English Translations from Ancient and Modem Poems,**
by Various Authors, 3 vols. (London, 18 10). Also W. C. Wilkinson's College Greek
Course, and College Latin Course, in English (1884-1886). Of iEschylus read the
Prometheus Bound, to illustrate 15 ; the Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides,
to illustrate 198, 228-280 ; and the Seven against Thebes, for 187. Of Sophocles
read CEdipus Pex, CEdipus at Colonus, Antigone, with 182-185, etc. ; Electra, with
228 ; Ajax and Philoctetes, with the Trojan War ; Women of Trachis, with 188.
Of Euripides read Medea, Ion, Alcestis, Iphigenia in Aulis and in Tauris, Electra.
COMMENTARY 539
299. Roman Poets. Horace (65 b.c). in his Odes, Epodes, and Satires makes
frequent reference and allusion to the common stock of mythology, sometimes
telling a whole story, as that of the daughters of Danaiis. Catullus (87 B.C.), the
most original of Roman love-poets, gives us the Nuptials of Peleus and Thetis
(for selections in English hexameters, see 177 and 191), the Lock of Berenice,
and the Atys. Manilius of the age of Augustus wrote a poem on Astronomy,
which contains a philosophic statement of star-myths. Valerius Flaccus (d. 88 A.D.)
based his Argonautics upon the poem of that name by Apollonius of Rhodes.
Statins (61 a.d.) revived in the brilliant verses of his Thebaid and his Achilleid
the epic myths and epic machinery, but not the vigor and naturalness of the
ancient style. To a prose writer, Hyginns, who lived on terms of close intimacy
with Ovid, a fragmentary work called the Book of Fables, which is sometimes a
useful source of information, and four books of Poetical Astronomy, have been
attributed. The works, as we have them, could not have been written by a friend
of the cultivated Ovid.
Translations and Studies. For a general treatment of the great poets of
Rome, the student is referred to W. L. Collins* series of Ancient Classics for
English Readers (Philadelphia, Lippincott). For the Cupid and Psyche of Apu-
leius, read Walter Pater's Marius the Epicurean (London, 1885). Of translations,
the following are noteworthy : Ovid, -r- the Metamorphoses, by Dryden, Addison,
and others; into English blank verse by Ed. King (Edinburgh, 187 1); prose by
Riley (London, 1851); verse by Geo. Sandys (London, 1626). Virgil: complete
works into prose by J. Lonsdale and S. Lee (New York, Macmillan); iEneid,
translations, — into verse by John Conington (London, 1873); '^^^^ dactylic hexam-
eter by Oliver Crane (New York, 1888); the ^Eneids into verse by Wm. Morris
(London, 1876); and by Theodore C. Williams (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.);
Bks. 1-4, by Stanyhurst (Arber*s Reprint) (1582); iEneis, by Dryden. Catullus:
transl. by Robinson Ellis (London, 1871); by Sir Theodore Martin (Edinburgh,
1875). Horace : transl. by Theodore Martin (Edinburgh, 1881); by Smart (London,
1853); Odes arid Epodes in Calverley's translations (London, 1886); Odes, etc., by
Conington (London, 1872); Odes and Epodes, by Lord Lytton (New York, 1870);
complete, by E. C. Wickham (Oxford, Clarendon Press); Odes, by A. S. Way
(London, 1876) and Epodes (1898). Statins: Thebaid, transl. by Pope.
800. For Scandinavian literature, see footnotes to 300, and references in
C. 268-282.
Runes were " the letters of the alphabets used by all the old Teutonic tribes.
. . . The letters were even considered magical, and cast into the air written
separately upon chips or spills of wood, to fall, as fate determined, on a cloth,
and then be read by the interpreters. . . . The association of the runic letters
with heathen mysteries and superstition caused the first Christian teachers to
discourage, and, indeed, as far as possible, suppress their use. They were there-
fore superseded by the Latin alphabet, which in First English was supplemented
by retention of two of the runes, named ' thorn * and ' wen,* to represent sounds
of * th ' and ' w,* for which the Latin alphabet had no letters provided. Each rune
540 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
was named after some object whose name began with the sound represented.
The first letter was F, Feoh, money ; the second U, Ur, a bull ; the third Th,
Thorn, a thorn ; the fourth O, Os, the mouth ; the fifth R, Rad, a saddle ; the sixth
C, Cen, a torch ; and the six sounds being joined together make Futhorc, which
is the name given to the runic A B C." — Morley, English Writers, i, 267. See
also Vigfusson and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale, 2, 691, under Runes and
Rune-Stones; Cleasby and Vigfusson*s Icelandic-English Dictionary; and George
Stephens' Old Northern Runic Monuments, 2 vols. (London, 1866-1868).
801. For Translations of the Nibelungenlied, see C. 283. For other German
lays of myth, — the Gudrun, the Great Rose Garden, the Homed Siegfried, etc., —
see Vilmar's Geschichte der deutschen National- Litteratur, 42-101 (Leipzig, 1886).
See also, in general, Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie .(Gottingen, 1855); Ludlow's
Popular Epics of the Middle Ages, 2 vols. (London, 1865); George T. Dippold's
Great Epics of Mediaeval Germany (Boston, 189 1).
302. Egyptian. See Birch's Guide to the First and Second Egyptian Rooms,
British Museum ; Miss A. B. Edwards' A Thousand Miles up the Nile (London,
1876).
For the principal divinities^ see Index to this work,
803. Indian. Max MUller's translation of the Rig- Veda- Sanhita; Sacred Books
of the East, 35 vols., edited by Max Miiller, — the Upanishads, Bhagavadg^ta,
Institutes of Vishnu, etc., translated by various scholars (Oxford, 1 874-1890);
Miiller's History of Sanskrit Literature (London, 1859); Weber's History of Indian
Literature (London, 1878); H. H. Wilson's Rig-Veda-Sanhita, 6 vols. (London,
1850-1870), and his Theatre of the Hindus, 2 vols. (London, 1871); Muir's San-
skrit Texts, and his Principal Deities of the Rig- Veda, 5 vols. (London, 1868-1873);
J. Freeman Clarke's Ten Great Religions (Boston, 1880); the Mah&bh&rata, trans-
lated by Protap Chundra Roy, Nos. 1-76 (Calcutta, 1883-1893). See Indian Idylls,
by Edwin Arnold ; The Episode of Nala, — Nalop4khy4nam, — translated by Monier
Williams (Oxford, 1879). ^^ ^^ Rimiyana, a paraphase (in brief) is given by
F. Richardson in the Iliad of the East (London, 1870). Sir William Jones* trans-
lation of the Sakuntala ; E. A. Reed's Hindu Literature, with translations (Chicago,
1891); W. Ward's History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos, 3 vols.
(London, 1822). On Buddhism, read Arnold's Light of Asia.
For the chief divinities of the Hindus^ see Index to this work,
804. Persian. J. Freeman Clarke's Ten Great Religions ; Johnson's Oriental
Religions ; Haug's Essays on the Sacred Language, Literature, etc., of the ParsiF,
by E. W. West (Boston, 1879). ^^ illustration should be read Moore's Fire-
Worshipers in Lalla Rookh.
A FEW RULES FOR THE ENGLISH PRONUNCIA-
TION OF GREEK AND LATIN PROPER NAMES
[These rules will cover most cases, but they are not intended to exhaust the subject. The reader is
referred to the Latin grammars and the English dictionaries.]
I. Quantity, The reader must first ascertain whether the second last syllable
of the word is long. In general a syllable is long in quantity :
(i) If it contains a diphthong, or a long vowel: Bau-cis, Ac-/d^-on, Me-tiSf
O-n-on, Flo-rz..
(2) If its vowel, whether long or short, is followed by/, x, or ar, or by any two
consonants except a mute and a liquid : ^'-jax, Meg-a-^a'-zus, A-dras'-tas.
Note {a). Sometimes two vowels come together without forming a diphthong.
In such cases the diaeresis is, in this volume, used to indicate the division:
g.g. Men-e-la'-wj, Pe-ne'-«j.
Note {b). The syllable formed by a short vowel before a mute with / or r is
sometimes long and sometimes short : €.g, Cle-o-/ J'-tra, or Cle-op'-^Jf-tra ; Vdi-trS^-
clus, or Pat'-rdJ^clus.
II. Accent*
(i) The accent may be principal, or subordinate : Hel^-les-pon'-tus.
(2) The principal accent falls on the second last syllable {penult) : Am-phi-
tri'^-te ; or on the third last syllable (antepenult) : Am-phit^-ry-on.
JVote {a) In words of two syllables, it falls on iht, penult: Cir'-ce.
Note [b) In words of more than two syllables, it falls on the penult when
that syllable is long ; otherwise, on the antepenult: .S-ne^-as, Her^-<;ii-les.
(3) The subordinate accent :
Note {a) If only two syllables precede the principal accent, the subordinate
accent falls on the first syllable of the word : Hip'^po-oxl.'nt..
Note [b) If more than two syllables precede the principal accent, the laws gov-
erning the principal accent apply to those preceding syllables : C^Aji'-^-pe'-a.
Note, In the Index of this work, when the penult of a word is long, it is
marked with the accent ; when the penult is short, the antepenult is marked.
The reader should however bear in mind that a syllable may be long even though
it contain a short vowel, as by Rule I, (2), above.
III. Vowels and Consonants. These rules depend upon those of Syllabi-
cation :
(i) A vowel generally has its long English sound when it ends a syllable;
HZ-rOf r-Or Caf-cuSf I-tho'-me^ E-do'-ni, My-c/-na.
542 THE CLASSIC MYTHS
(2) A vowel generally has its skori English sound in a syllable that ends in a
consonant : HeV-en^ Sis'-y-phusy Pol-y-^htf-mus. But g in the termination es has
its long sound : Hcr^mgSy K-tnf-dts.
(3) The vowel a has an obscure sound when it ends an unaccented syllable :
A-chae'-fl ; so, also, the vowel / or y^ not final, after an accented syllable : Hes-
per'-i-des ; and sometimes / or^ in an unaccented first syllable : Cr-lic'-i-a.
(4) Consonants have their usual English sounds ; but c and g are soft before ^,
/, y, (Ey and ce : CV-to, (7/-ry-on, G^-ges ; ch has the sound of k : Chi'-os ; and r,
*j, and /, immediately preceded by the accent and standing before / followed by
another vowel, commonly have the sound of sh : 5/X-y-on (but see Latin g^m-
mars and English dictionaries for exceptions).
IV. Syllabication.
(i) The penultimate syllable ends with a vowel: e.g, Pe-»^'-us, l-tho'-mit,
y^'-treus, Hel'-^-nus ;
Except when its vowel is followed by x or by two consonants (not a mute ¥rith
/ or r), then the vowel is joined with the succeeding consonant: .A^-os, C/r-ce,
Agai-mem-non.
(2) Other syllables (not ultimate or penultimate) end with a vowel : e.g. /V-rae-us ;
Except when {a) the vowel is followed by x or any two consonants (not a mute
with / or r) : e.g. Zr-i'-on, Pel-O'/^^-ne'-sus ; and when {b) the syllable is accented
and its vowel followed by one or more consonants: e^. An^-BX-ag'-o-ms, Am-
phic^ty-OTif CEd-'i-pus.
JVote {a). But an accented ^, ^, or 0 before a single consonant (or a mute with
/ or r), followed by e, /, or^ before another vowel, is not joined with the succeed-
ing consonant, and consequently has the long sound : Pau-jJ'-ni-as ; De-iw^-tri-us.
JVote {b). An accented u before a single consonant (or mute with / or r) is not
joined with the succeeding consonant, and consequently has the long sound:
/w'-pi-ter.
(3) All words have as many syllables as they have yowels and diphthongs.
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
AND THEIR SOURCES
[Ordinary figures refer to pages of the Text. Figures in italies preceded by C.
refer to sections of the Commentary and incidentally to the corresponding sections
in the Text
In the case of words of which the correct pronunciation has not seemed to be
clearly indicated by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of the letters
have been denoted thus : a, like a in grdy; a, like J, only less prolonged ; a, like
a in hdve; a, like a mfdr; a, like a in sofa; a and au like a in all ; ae, e, and ce,
like ee in meet ; e, like ^, only less prolonged ; e, like e in htd; §, like e in thire ;
e, like e in err; I, like / in pine; i, like t in ptn ; 6, like o in note; 6, like 5, only
less prolonged; 8, like o in ndt; d, like o in Srb ; do, like oo in foot; oo, like oo
in moon ; ou, as in out ; u, like u in use ; ii, like the French u ; € and ch, like k ;
titi, as in the; 9, like s ; g, like g in get; g, like/ ; §, like «: ; ch, as in German ach ;
G, small capital, as in German Hamburgh
A'bas, 207
Ab-syr'tus, 232 ; C. idj-idy (Illustr.)
A-bjT'dSs, 32,^42 ; C.J4
Ab'y-la, 219
A-9es'te§, 352, 368, 369
A-9e'te§, 1 52 ; the vengeance of Bac-
^ chus, I54» 155
A-chae'ans, their origin, 16; 274, 288;
C. 148 (2)
A-€ha'tc§, 366
Ach-e-lo'us, myth of, 203, 204 ; C. 146-
A€h'e-r8n, 47, 127, 327
A-€hirie§, 75, 91, 179, 237 ; his descent,
^269, 272, 275, 276 ; character of, 274 ;
in the Trojan War, 279-308 ; in Scy-
ros, 279, 280 ; wrath of, 283 ; and
Patroclus, 296 ; remorse of, 299 ; rec-
onciliation, with Agamemnon, 300;
slays Hector and drags his body, 301-
303; and Priam, 304-306; death of,
307» 308, 313, 328, 345, 453 ; ^- ^90-
194 (i), 199^ 207
A'9is, 198, 200 J C 141
A'c8n, C. 138
Acontius (a-con^shY-us), C. 64
A-crisTus, 207 ; doom of, 208-214; C.
H9-^54
Ac-ro-9e-rau'nian Mountains, 118 ; C. gj
Ac-tae'on, 89; m)rth of, 120-122, 261;
C. sg, table E ; 95
Ad-me'ta, 218
Ad-me'tus, 104, 230 ; Lowell's Shepherd
of King A., 105, 106; and Alcestis,
106-110
A-do'nis, myth of, 126-128; Lang's
translation of Bion's Lament for A.,
126-128; C. 100
Ad-ras-te'a, 5
A-dras'tus, 264, 265
^-a9'i-de§, Achilles, 272
^'a-cus, 51, 53, 246, 269; king of
iEgina, 73» 75? ^- i90-^94 (0
iE-ae'a, isle of, 318, 324, 328
iE-e'teg, 230-232 ; genealogy, C. 172
M^gXj palace of Neptune near, 56
iE-gae'6n, C. 4
iE-ge'an Sea, 177
S43
544
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
i^geus (e'jus), 235, 250, 251, 252, 256;
C. 61, 148 (4), 174
iE-gi'na, island of, 53; daughter of
Asopus, myth of, 64, 73-75, 169;
plague of the island, 73-75 ; C. 61
iE'gis, of Jupiter, 21 ; of Minerva, 23,
213
i^-gis'thus, 275, 276, 314, 315 ; (7. igo-
jg4 (2), 228-230 (In Art)
iE'gle, a nymph in pastoral poetry
^'g8n, 185 ; C. i2g-ijo
iE-gyp'tus, 207 ; C. 149-134
iE-ne'as, 126, 168, 206, 265, 276, 280,
289, 290, 299-301 ; C. igo-ig4 (5),
207, 243-234. See ^neid
iE-r/e'as Syl'vius, king of Alba Longa,
third in descent from ^neas
yE-ne'id, 456 ; the narrative of, 346-372 ;
from Troy to Italy, 346 ; the depar-
ture from Troy, the promised empire,
347 ; the Harpies, 348 ; Epirus, the
Cyclopes, 349 ; resentment of Juno,
350 ; sojourn at Carthage, Dido, 350-
352 ; Palinurus, Italy, 352 ; the Sibyl
of Cumae, 352-354, 361 ; the infernal
regions, 354-358 ; the Elysian Fields,
358* 359 ; the valley of oblivion, 359 ;
war between Trojans and Latins,
362-372 ; gates of Janus opened, 363 ;
Camilla, 364 ; alliance with Evander,
365-367 ; site of future Rome, 366 ;
Turnus' attack, 367 ; Nisus and Eury-
alus, 368-370 ; death of Mezentius,
370* 371 J o^ Pallas and of Camilla,
371, 372; the final conflict, 372; C.
243-260, 2gg
iE-o'li-a, 39
iE'o-lus, of Thessaly, 16, 206, 214;
myths of his family, 229-236 ; quest
of the Golden Fleece, 230-233 ; con-
nection with Medea, 233-236 ; C. 38
(9), 123, 148 (5), table I
iE'o-lus (wind god), 39, 170, 175, 177,
323, 324, 350 ; C.38 (9), 123, 148 {^),
table I. See Hippotades
iEpytus (epi-tus), 241
A-ir'o-pe, 275 ; genealogy, C. 172, igo-
^9^ {2)
^schylus (esTcMus), 455 ; references
to, 265, 314-316, C. 10-13; transla-
tions, C. 2g8
i^sculapius (es-ku-la^pi-us), attributes
of, 38 ; myth of, 104 ; 260, 296 ; C.
^...^ (8), 80
iE-sVpus, 179
.E'son, 230, 233, 234; C. 163-167
(Illustr.)
iE'sop, 2
iE'ther, 3 ; or Light, 4
iE-thi-o'pi-a, 43, 97, 179, 211 ; C. 128
^-thro-pis, 453
iE'thra, 250, 251 ; C. 174, 190-194 (2)
^tna (et'na). Mount, 25, 96, 104, 159,
223 ; C. 76
^-to'lT-a, 237
iE-to'lus, 206; family of, 237-245; C.
H^ (3)» (5)» table l-, j68
Africa, 350, 447, 448
Ag-a-mem'non, 99; family of, 275, 276,
455; in the Trojan War, 280-300;
quarrel with Achilles, 284, 285 ; recon-
ciliation, 300 ; return to Greece, and
death, 314; 328 ; C. 190-194 (2), 19b
A-ga've, 89, 153, 156, 261 ; C. jr/, table
D ; 182-189, table N
Age of Gold. See Golden Age
A-ge'nor, father of Cadmus, 68, 87, 206,
207 ; genealogy, C. 39, 148 (i), 14^
A-ge'n6r, son of Priam, 301
Aglaia (a-gla'ya or a-glal-a), one of the
Graces, 26, 36 ; wife of Vulcan, 26
Aglauros (a-gl6-ros), daughter of Ce-
crops, C. 174. See Herse
Agni (ag'ne). See Hindu divinities (i)
A-grot'e-ra, C. 32. See Diana
Ah'ri-man, 463
A'jax the Great, son of Telamon, 237,
275, 276, 280, 286, 288, 293-299,308,
328, 453 ; C. 190-194 (i), 204, 207
A'jax the Less, son of Oileus, king of
the Locrians, a leader in the Trojan
War, 286
Al'ba Lon'ga, 372
Alberich (al'ber-lG), in Wagner's Ringi
410-414, 4:9-428. S^t 2\so Afuivari
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
545
Al-^ae'us, 216, 453
Al-9es'tis, 106-110, 225, 282, 455 ; C. 8j
Al-9rde§, 216; C. 1^6-162 ; genealogy,
140-1^4, table J
Al-9inVus, 332-337
Alc-mae''6n, 268
Alc-me'ne, 64, 107, 214, 215, 328
Alcyoneus (al-si'o-nus), 7. See Giants,
Greek
A-lec'to, 54, 363
Aleian (a-le'yan) field, 215; C, 753*
Alexander, ^fl^ Paris
A-lex'is, a beautiful youth in Virgil's
second Eclogue
Alfadur (al'fa-door), 375, 395, 404. See
Odin
A-lo'a-dae, or Al-o-i'dae. See Aloeus
Aloeus (a-lo'us), or A-lo'as, 93
Al-phe'n6r, son of Niobe, 100
Alphesiboeus (al-fes-i-be'us), an ideal
singer in pastorals
Al-phe'us, 118, 119, 218; C. 9J
Alps, 97
Al-thae'a, 237, 238, 240, 241, 242, 275;
C, 168, table K
Am-al-the'a, 5 ; C, 146-147
Amaryllis (am-a-riris), a fair shep-
herdess of pastoral poetry (Theoc-
ritus, Virgil)
Am-a-se'nus river, 364
A-ma'ta, 363
Am'a-thus, 126, 149, 182; C. 100
Am'a-zons, and Hercules, 219; and
Theseus, 258; at Troy, 307 ; C. 75-6-
162 (iUustr.), iy(>-i8i (Interpret.)
Ambrosia (am-bro'zhi-a), 95 ; C. 76
Am'm6n (Jupiter Ammon), temple and
oracle of, 20 ; C. 146-147. See Egyp-
tian divinities (2)
A'mor. See Cupid
Am-pM-a-ra'us, 239, 265, 268, 451 ; C.
148 (5)
Am-phiro-€hus, 268
Am-phi'Sn, 99, 100, 206, 451 ; myth of,
75-77 ; from Tennyson's Amphion,
76, 77 ; C. 62
Am-phi-tri'te, the Nereid, wife of Nep-
tune, 55, 198, 454
Am-phit'ry-6n, 216
Amphrysus (am-fri'sus) river, 105
Am-y-mo'ne, 170, 217 ; C, iig-120
Amyntas (a-min'tas), a lovely boy in
pastoral poetry. See Virgil, Bucolics ^
A-nac're-6n, 453, 454
An-a-dy-om'e-ne {risingirom the water),
C.S4. See Venus
An-ax-ar'e-te, 195
An-9aB'us, 239
Ancestor worship in China, 437
An-€hi'se§, 125, 276, 280, 346-348, 353,
359» 360; C, igo-ig4 (5), 24^-2^7
An-9i'le, C. 28
An-drae'mon, 192
An-dro'ge-us, 252
An-drom'a-che, 280, 291-293, 303, 313,
349; a 207
An-drom'e-da, 169; and Perseus, 211-
214, 215, 216; lines from Kingsley's
Andromeda, 212; €,14^-1^4
Andvari (and'va-re), 401-405 ; as Albe-
rich, 410-414, 419-428 ; C. 282-283
Angerbode (ang'er-bo'de), 387
An'se§ (iE'sir, A'sa-folk), 374, 376; C
268-281
An-tae'us, 170, 220
An-te'a, 214
An-te'nor, 288
An'te-r6s, 35
An-thes-te'ri-a, C. 42, 110-112
Anthology, Greek, translations of, C
2g8
Anthropological method, 442
An-tig'o-ne, 263, 264, 266, 267 ; C. 182-
i8g
An-til'o-chus, 179, 299
An-tin'o-us, 343
An-tiVpe, daughter of Asopus, 64, 328 ;
myth of, 75-77 ; C. 62
An-ti'o-pe, wife of Theseus, 2J8, 259 ;
C, i74i table M ^
An-to're§, 370 •
A-nii'bis. See Egyptian divinities (2)
A-peHeg, a Greek painter of the time
of Alexander the Great. See John
Lyly*s Alexander and Campaspe
Apennines, 97
546
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Aph-ro-di'tS (foam-bom). See Venus
A'pis, oracle of, C joS. See Egyptian
divinities (i)
A-poHo, Phoebus, and his lyre, i8; son
of Latona, 19 ; meaning of names, 26 ;
attributes, 26-29 ; among the Hyper-
boreans, the Delphians, his victory
over Python, 26 ; the Pythian games,
his oracles, patronage of music, etc.,
27 ; favorite animals, 28 ; Shelley's
Hymn of Apollo, 28 ; myths of, 91-
117 ; the Paean of victory, 92 ; victory
over Tit)rus and the Aloadae, 92, 93 ;
A. and Hyacinthus, 93, 94 ; and Phae-
thon, 94-98 ; sends a plague upon the
Greeks before Troy, 98, 99 ; A. and
Niobe, 99-103 ; and Psamathe and
Linus, 103, 104 ; and Coronis and ^s-
culapius, 104; and the Cyclopes, 104;
in exile, serves Admetus, 104-110;
Lowell's Shepherd of King Admetus,
105, 106; serves Laomedon, no; as
a musician. Pan, Midas, Marsyas,
IIO-H2; Shelley's H)rmn of Pan,
III, 112; loves of A., Calliope, Cy-
rene, Daphne, 1 12-1 14; Lowell's lines
upon Daphne, 114; Marpessa, 115,
116; quotations from Stephen Phil-
lips' Marpessa, 115, 116; Clytie, 116,
117; quotation from Moore's Clytie,
117; A. and Orion, 122; and Mer-
cury, 150, 151; and Neptune, 169;
and Hercules, 216; and Daphnis,
223; in Trojan War, 283-2S5, 290,
296-304, 307, 308; Cassandra, 313;
the Sibyl, 353, 361 ; interpretations
of, 432, 434, 437, 440, 442, 445 ; C.JO,
68, 72-73, 76-8g, log
A-pol-lo-do'rus, 455; references to, 75,
115, 122, 125, 160, 169, 177, 201, 207,
208, 214, 215, 230, 241, 242, 246, and
lootnotes passim
Ap-ol-lo'nI-us (of Rhodes), 455; refer-
ences to, 125, 193, 230, 242, 269;
C,4
Apuleius (ap-S-le'yus), 457 ; references
to, 128, 137; translation of, C.2g8
AquWo fak'^-lo), 38
A-rach'ne, myth of, 82-84 ; C. 6^-66
Ar-ca'di-a, 67, no, 217, 218, 241, 265,
Ar'cSs, son of Callisto, 67, 241; C^S
and table D
A-re-op'a-g^s, Mars' Hill, on which the
highest Athenian tribunal held its
meetings. See St, PauVs address, Acts
17,22
A're§. See Mars
Ar-e-thu'sa, myth of, 1 17*120 ; Shelley's
poem, 1 18-120; an^^^es, 162; C.
..93
Ar'geg, C, 4.
Ar'gives, 308
Ar'go, the, 223, 230, 233 ; C, 163-167
Ar'go-lis, C. i4q-i^4
Ar-go-nau'tic expedition, 39, 222, 230-
233, 269, 348 ; quotation from Dyer's
Fleece, 230, 231
Argonauts (ar^go-n6ts), the, 222, 230-
233, 242 ;♦ W. Morris' Life and Death
of Jason, 232, 233 ; C 163-167
Ar^g8s (city and district), 22, 23, 103,
169, 206, 207, 214, 217, 264, 265, 268,
.. 315' 370» 452; C. 64, 149-^54
Ar'gus, builder of the Argo, 230
Ar'gus (Pan-op'tes), 34; myth of lo,
Mercury, and A., 65-67, 439 ; C. 57
Ar'gus, Ulysses' dog, 341
A-rl-ad'ne, 152; m3rth of, 156, 252-
258, 259, 270 ; C, 172, table L, 176-
181
A-ri^5n, identified with Jonah, 440 ; ac-
^ count of, 453, 454 ; C. 2g8
A-ri'6n, the horse, 170
Ar-is-tae^us, 112, 121, 165; myth of, 202,
203 ; C. J4S
Ar-is-toph'a-neg, 455
Ar'is-t6tle, reference to, 241
Ar^ne, 170
Ar-sin'o-e, 104, 150
Ar'te-mis. See Diana
A'rung, 371, 372
Ar'yan germ-theory, 448
Ar^yan tribes and modem descendants,
448, 462
A'sa-folk. See Anses
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
547
As-ca'nl-us, C. igo-ig4 (5). See lulus
As-cle-pi^'a-dae ( As-cle'pi-os), C 80. See
yEsculapius
As'cra, 453
As'^rd, 2, 374, 389-392, 396, 397
Asia, 68, 153, 252,448
Ask, 374
A-so'pus, 73, 75; C. 61
As^pho-del, the meads of, 49, 120
As-slLr^a-cus, grandfather of Anchises,
C. igo-ig4 (5)
As-syr^i-ans, jp^C 34.
As-tar'te, C,j4,^g
As-te'ii-a, C i6j-i6'^
As-trae'a, 15; C. 18
As-t/a-nax, 291-293, 303 ; C. igo-ig4
(5)
At-a-lan'ta (the Arcadian), daughter of
lasius, in the Calydonian hunt, 237-
241 ; selections from S¥rinbume's
Atalanta in Calydon, 237-240; A.
and Mars, 265 ; C. 168
At-a-lan'ta (daughter of Schoeneus of
Bceotia), 139-141 ; extract from Lan-
dor's Hippomenes and Atalanta, 140,
141 ; cousin of Jason, 230; genealogy,
C, loj and table G; 148 (5), table I
A'te, 300
Ath^'a-mas, 202, 229 ; C /oj, table G j
. 14^ (2), (5), table I
A-the'na or A-the'ne, 445 ; C, 2y, See
Minerva
Ath'ens, 23, 81, 82, 235, 246, 249, 250,
252, 258, 263, 308, 317, 452
A'thos, Mount, 96 ; C 76
At'lan'tis, legend of, 52. See Plat6*s
Timaus
At^as, 6, 41 ; described, 57 ; his off-
spring, the Atlantides, 57 ; and Per-
seus, 211 ; and Hercules, 220; C.6;
genealogy, 148 (5), table I, and 14^-
Atli (af le). See Attila
Atmu (at'moo). See Egyptian dimni-
ties (i)
A'trax, 259
Atreus (a'troos), house of, 269, 275,
276 ; C. 7<?, igo-ig4 (2)
A-tri'dej, 98 ; C, 77
At'ro-p6s, a Fate, 38
At'tf-ca, 207, 243, 249, 256
At'tit-la, Atli, Etzel, 404, 409; C 282^
283 _
Audhumbla (ou^'tfaoom-bla), 373
Au-ge'as, Au-ge^an stables, 218; C /j'd-
162 (Interpret)
Au-gi^as. See Augeas
Au-g^s'tan Age, 2, 456
Au-g^s'tus, 61, 456
Aulis, 280
Au'ra, 172, 173
Au-ro'ra, 39, 40, 43, 95, 123, 125, 148,
160, 172, 175, 176, 269 ; and Tlthonus,
177-179; mother of Memnon, 179,
180 ; C j<? (10), 123-1 24t and table H
Au-ro'ra Bo-re-alis, 376
Aus'ter, 38
Australians, mental state of contem-
porary native, 441 ; myths among,
448
Au-ton'o-e, 89, 121, 156, 261
Av-a-tar'. See Hindu divinities (2)
Av'en-tine, Mount, 221; C. 1^6^162
(Textual)
A-ver'nus, Lake, 354
A-ves'ta, 463
Bab-y-lo'ni-a, 147
Bac'cha-nals, 44, 154, 155; C, 110-112
Bac-€han^te§, 44, 153, 258; C,iio-ii2
Bac^chus (Dionysus), 20; descent and
attributes, 44, 45; quotation from
Dryden's Alexander's Feast, 45 ; wor-
shipers of, 44; the Roman Liber,
59; his mother, Semele, 72; B. and
Vulcan, 91; myths of, 152-158; his
wanderings, 152, 153 ; Pentheus, 153-
156; story of Acetes, 154, 155 ; lines
from Edmund Gosse's Praise of Dio-
nysus, 1 56, 1 57 ; choice of Midas,
157* 158 ; B. and Neptune, 169 ; Ari-
adne, 257, 258; interpretation oi
ritual, 445 ; C, 42^60^ 110-112
Balaustion (ba-Ias'chon). See Brtntm-
in^s Balaustion* s Adventure^ Index
of Authors
548
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Harder, 376, 460; death of, 387-393;
extracts from M. Arnold's Balder
Dead, 388-397 ; C. 268-281, 282-283
Balmung (biirmdong), 409
Bards, 450, 458
Bas-s&rl-de§, C. 42
Bat'tus, a peasant who informed Apollo
of Mercury's robbery of his cattle;
or who, having promised secrecy to
Mercury, told the whole story to
Mercury disguised, and was petrified
by the offended deity
Bau'9is, 77-80
Bear, Great and Little, 43, 96; myth
of, 67, 68
Beauty and the Beast, analogy of inci-
dent, C. 101-102
Bel-lir'o-phSn, 230, 290, 298, 432 ; and
the Chimaera, 214, 215; C, /jj"
BeMo'na, 61 ; C. 34
Belus, king of Tyre, 206, 207, 351 ;
genealog)', C. J7, table D, 148 (i),
140-1^4. Compare the deity Baal
Belvedere (bcl-v^-der' or bel-vi-di'ra),
the Apollo, C. 30
Berecyntia (b€r-^sin'sM-a), C 41. See
Cybele
Berg-risar (b^rc're-sEr), 376
B€me, Dietrich of, 409 ; C. 282-283
Ber'o-e, 71
Bible, the Hebrew, 440
Bifrost (bef'r6st), 374, 377, 389, 395
Bi'6n, Lang's translation of his Lament
for Adonis, 126-128; C.s<h2g8
Biom (b^m') of Scard'sa, 459
Bi'tSn, 80, 81 ; (7.6/
Boeotia (be-o'sht-a), i39,2So,and/j;xx/iVf
Boeotians (be-o'shl-ans), 170
Bo'na De'a, 6i
Books of the Dead and of the Ix>wer
Hemisphere. 462
Bo-o'tcs, 96 ; C. 75
B6r, 373
Bo're-as, 38. 350 ; C, 38 (9)
Bori (bo're), 373
Bos'pho-rus (the heifer*s ford), a Thra-
cian strait, crossed bv lo
Bragi (bri'gc), 376
Bnih'maand Brah'man-ism. Stt Hindu
divinities (2)
Bran'stock, 398-400, 405
Brazen Age, the, 15 •
Breidablick (braMa-blik or brit'ap-lik),
the home of Balder
Briareus (bri'a-roos or bri-a're-us), 354;
C.4,8
Bri-se'is, 284 ; C. igg
Bro'mi-us, C. 42. See Bacchus
Bron'tej, C. 4
Brunhild (brdon'hilt), 4^^409 ; C 282-
'S3
Briinnhilde (briin-hll'dS), in Wagner's
Ring, 418-421, 424-430. See also
Brunhild i Brynhild
Bru'tus, a mythical g^randson of iEneas;
fabled to have colonized the island
called, after him, Britain
Brynhild (briin^illt), 402-404 ; C. 2B2-
^S3
Buddha (bood'e). Family name, Gau-
tama; given names, Siddartha (**in
whom wishes are fulfiUed") and
Buddha ("he who knovrs"). Bom
628 B.C., son of the king of Kapila-
vastu, north of Oude, India ; died in
his eighty-fifth year. Founder of
Buddhism, which, in opposition to
the dead creed and forms of Brah-
manism, taught: **(i) Existence is
only pain or sorrow. (2) The cause
of pain or sorrow is desire. (3) In
Nirvana all pain and sorrow cease.
(4) Nirvana is attainable by the * no-
ble path* of virtuous self-discipline.**
Xin\2na is both a means and an end.
As a means, it is the process of r^
nunciation by which the love of life
and self are extinguished ; as an end,
it is the heaven of the Buddhist, a
negative bliss consisting in absorp-
tion of the soul into the Infinite. The
soul is the Kdrma^ the sum total of a
man^s deeds, good and evil, — hi*
character, by which is determined
his state of future existence. The
Karma passes through various eai^
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
549
existences in the process of renun-
ciation described above. See Edward
Clodd^s Childhood of Religions, John
Caird^s Oriental Religions (Humboldt
Library), Encyc. Brit., Sir Edwin
Arnold's Light of Asia
Budlung (bood'loong), 404, 405
Bull, Jupiter as the, 69 ; C 59
Bur'gun-dy, 405, 407
Bush'men, mental state of, 441
Bu-si'ris, an Egyptian despot, who
sacrificed all strangers entering his
realm, but was put to death by
Hercules
Bu'to, an Egyptian goddess, identified
by the Greeks with Leto
Byrsa (ber'sa), 351
Caucus, myth of, 221 ; C. 1^6-162
Cad'mus, 17, 71, 206, 207; and the
dragon, 87-90, 231 ; builds Thebes,
87, 89 ; marries Harmonia, 89 ; curse
upon his family, 89, 90, 1 20, 1 53, 202,
229, 261, 265, 268; C, S7i table D;
59, table ]!^ ; 70
Ca-du'9e-us, the, 34, 151
Ca-i'cus, 97 ; C, yd
CalVis, 39, 230
Carchas, 281, 294, 311, 451
Cal-lim'a-€hus, C. 2g8
Cal-li'o-pe, the muse of epic poetry,
37; mother of Orpheus, 112, 165; C.
Cal-lIr'rho-S. See Chrysaor
Cal-lis'te, C. 32,^8
Cal-lis'to, 64, 237, 241 ; myth of, 67, 68 ;
Cal'pe, 219
Caiyd6n, 203, 225, 237, 265, 275; C,
146-147
Cal-y-do'ni-an Boar, the, 206, 237
Cal-y-do'ni-an Hunt, the, 225, 237-240
Calypso (ca-lip'so), 331 ; C. 231-244
Ca-me'nae (Antevorta, Postvorta, Car-
menta, and Egeria). The name comes
from the root of carmen, song of
prophecy, 62
Ca miHa, 364, 371, 372 ; C 260
Cam'pus Martius (mar'sM-us), C. 28
Capaneus (cap'a-nus), 265, 266
CapK-to-line Hill, 114
Capys (ca'pis), father of Anchises, C
igo-ig4 (5)
Ca'ii-a, 125
Car-men'ta, 62, 90 ; C. S^S-^
Car-ne'a, C. 30
Car'pa-thos, 203, 204; C. 14^
Car'thage, 350, 351
Cas-sanMra, 276, 313, 314, 451 ; C, igo-
ig4 (5), 226
Cas-si-o-pe'a, Cas-sl-e-pe'a, or Cas-
sfo-pe, 211 ; quotation from Milton's
II Penseroso, 211 ; C. I4g-ij4
Cas-ta'li-a, 26, 87 ; C. 30, 70, 76
Cas'tor, 206, 230, 237, 242-245, 275, 289 ;
C. igo-ig4 (3), (4) •
Ca-tuHus, 457 ; translations of his Pe-
leus and Thetis, 253-258, 269-273;
note and translations, C, 2gg; of
poems LXI and LXII, 38 (under
Hymen) ; of poem LI, loy
Cau'ca-sus, 11, 97, 192; C. ^6
Cayster (ca-is'ter), 97 ; C. yd
Qe-bri'o-ne§, 298
<Je-cro'pi-a, C. 6^-66
^e'crops, 17, 82, 207, 249; C, 6^-66,
iy6-i8i (Illustr.) ; genealogy, 148
(4); 174
^e-da'll-6n, 122
^e-lae'no, (i) a Pleiad; (2) a Harpy
^e1e-us, 160, 161, 164
Celts, 448
^en'taurs, the, 104, 259, 274; C. 80,
1^6-162 (Interpret.)
(Jen-tim'a-nus, C, 4
^e'os, an island in the iEgean
Qeph'a-lus, 40; and Procris, 172-175;
father of Phosphor, 175 ; C. 123-124,
igo-ig4 (4)
(Jepheus (5e'fus), 211, 213
^e-phis'sus, 26, 88, 188, 250 ; C. 30, 70,
132-133
gerl3er-us, 47, 135, 167, 355; and
Hercules, 220; C. 4g, fj6-i62 (Inter-
pret.)
ger-co'pe§, 222 ; C. 1J6-162
550
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
(Je'reg, 5 ; or Demeter, 19 ; attributes
of, 43, 44 ; favorite animals, etc., 44 ;
Eleusinian mysteries, 44, 165 ; the
Roman, 59; and Psyche, 133; wan-
derings of, 152, 160-165; C. and
Neptune, 170 ; Erysichthon, 191, 192 ;
C. 40, S9y iH-^n
^er-y-ne'an stag, 218; C. 1^6-162
(Interpret.)
^es-tus, the, 295
ge'to, 57
Ceylon, 463
Ceyx (selx), 175-177 ; C, 12^. See
Halcyone,
€ha'6s, 3, 4 ; ^- J
■Gha'ris, youngest of the Charites, called
also Aglaia (Aglaia), wife of Vulcan
Charl-te§. See Graces
Cha'rSn, 47, 135, 354, 355, 377 ; C. 44-46
Charybdis (cha-rib'dis), 255, 329, 330,
350; C.SO-S2
CM-mae'ra, 214, 215, 354 ; C. 133
■Chi'6s (Scjo), 122, 149, 452 ; C. 96, loy
Chi'ron, 104, 231, 269, 271, 274; C, 10-
iS, 80, igg
•Cho'rus, 196
Christ, I, 181
diro'nus or Chro'nSs, 439 ; C. 4
Chrysaor (chri-sa'Sr or chris'a-dr), son
of Poseidon ; sprang with Pegasus
from the head of Medusa; by Cal-
lirrhoe he was father of Geryones
and Echidna. See Michael Field's
Callirrhoe, a drama, 1884
Chryseis (ehri-se'is), 98, 283, 284 ; C. 77
Chryses (ehri'seg), 98, 283, 284
Chrysothemis (ehris-oth'e-mis), daugh-
ter of Agamemnon, 275 ; C, igo-ig4
(2)
Cic'e-ro, references to the works of,
104, 196
gi-co'ni-ans, the, 318
(Ji'lix, son of Agenor ; brother of Cad-
mus and Phoenix ; settled in Cilicia
^im-me'ri-an, 176, 338; C, 12^
(Jim-me'ri-ans, the, 47, 328
(Jin'y-ras, 126
5ir'9e, 201,318,324-330; C./7^,^j/-^^
Cir'cus Max'i-mus, 60
gi-thae'ron. Mount, 75, 155, 261 ; C, 62^
110-112
Cla'r6s, 175
Cle'o-bis, 80, 81 ; €,64
Cle-om'e-neg, a sculptor of about 200
B.C., C.3S
Cli'o, the muse of history, 37 ; €,38 (4)
Clo'tho, a Fate, 38
Clymene (clim'e-ne), 94 ; C. 76
Cly-tem-nes'tra, 237, 242, 275,314, 315;
C. igo-ig4 (3), 228-230
Clytie (cHshl-e or cli'ti-e), 116, 117;
Thomas Moore's verses, Believe me,
if all . . ., 117; C. gi
Clytius (clishl-us), C. 8
Cnageus (na'jus), C.32
Cnidos (ni'd6s), 32, 126; C jj*, 100
Cnosus (no'sus) or Cnossus (n6s'us).
See Gnossus
C6€'a-lus, 247
Cocytus (co-si'tus), 47, 327, 354
Coeus (se^us), a Titan, 64 ; C ^
CoKchis, 222, 229, 231, 242 ; C, 1^6-162
(Textual)
Co-lo'nus, 263
Coro-ph6n, 452
Co'mus, in later mythology a god of
festivity, drunkenness, and mirth.
See Milton's Masque of Comus
Con-siv'i-us, 60
Con'sus, 59, 60, 88 ; C. So-S^
Co'ra (Ko're). See Proserpina
Cor'inth, 32, 124, 169, 196, 214, 235,
252, 261, 453
Cor-nu-co'pi-a, 53, 204; C 146-14^
Coroebus (co-re^us), 103
Co-ro'nis, 104. See jEsculapius
Cor-y-ban'te§, references to, 14, 44;
a 16
Cor'y-ddn, an ideal singer of pastoral
poetry. Stt Theocritus^ Idyl 4 ; Vifgil%
Bucolics y
Cor'y-thus, C.221
C6s, an island off the coast of Caria
Cof tus, C. 4
Cra'n6n or Cran'nSn, a town in the vale
of Tempe, in Thessaly
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
551
Creation, Greek myths of, 3; Virgil's
account of, 360 ; the Norse account
of, 373» 374
Cre'Sn, 263, 266, 267; C. i82-i8g^
table N
Cres-phon^teg, 241, 242
Cres'sl-da, C. ig6
Cre'tan Bull, the, 218, 246; C. 1^6-162
(Interpret.)
Crete, Cre'ta, 53, 70, 71, 132, 201, 207,
242, 246, 249, 252, 256, 275, 286, 288,
348; as9
Cretheus (cre'thus), C. 148 (2), (5)
Cre'us, C. 4
Cre-u'sa, mother of Ion, C. 1^4
Cre-u'sa, wife of iEneas, 347 ; C, /90-
'94 (5)
Cre-u'sa, wife of Jason, 235
Croc'a-le, 120
Cro'nus, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19; rule of, 5, 10;
in the Fortunate Isles, 52 ; con-
founded with Chronos, 439 ; C, 4
Cu'mae, 352
Cu-mae^an Sibyl, 352-361
Cu'pid or Cu-pi'do (Eros), attributes of,
35, 36, 126; Edmund Gosse's Eros,
36; Lyly*s Cupid and Campaspe, C.
j8; in the story of Apollo and
Daphne, 112, 113; C. and Psyche,
128-139, 457; extracts from Wm.
Morris' Earthly Paradise, 131, 135;
from Bridges' Eros and Psyche, 132 ;
from Pater's Marius, 133; T. K.
Hervey's Cupid and Psyche, 136,
137; Keats* Ode to Psyche, 137-
139 ; in the story of Hero and Lean-
der, 142-144; Pluto and Proserpine,
1 59 ; C.j8(i), 1 01-102
Cii-re'te§, inhabitants of Crete, noisy
worshipers of Jupiter; later identi-
fied with the Corybantes (worshipers
of Cybele)
Q/a-ne river, 160, 162; C. 114-ijy
^y'a-ne, a Sicilian nymph
Cybele (sib'e-le) or Cybebe (si-be'be),
attributes and worship of, 44, 141 ;
the Roman Magna Mater, 59 ; C 16,
41, See also Rhea
Cyclic (siklik) Poets, the, 452
gy-clo'pes, g/clSps, 4, 6, 7, 53, 122,
170, 185, 198-200, 332 ; and Apollo,
104 ; and Ulysses, 320-323 ; and
iEneas, 349 ; C. ^, 141
^yc'nus. (i) Son of Apollo. With his
mother, Thyria, he leaped into lake
Canope, where both were changed
into swans. (2) Son of Poseidon, a
king of Colonae in Troas. He assisted
the Trojans, but was killed by Achil-
les; changed into a swan. (3) Son of
Ares, killed by Hercules; changed
into a swan. (4) A friend of Phae-
thon. While lamenting his friend's
fate, Cycnus was changed by Apollo
into a swan, and placed among the
stars
9y-dip'pe and her sons, 80, 81 ; quota-
tion from Edmund Gosse's The Sons
of Cydippe, Si ; C. 64
^yl-le'ne. Mount, 34, 1 50 ; C. log
Cynosure (si'no-shoor or sln^o-shoor),
the, C,s8
gyn'thl-a (Diana), 31, 118, 125, 139;
C.32
^yn'thus, Mount, in Delos, C. 32^ y8
gyp'ri-an, the, 85 ; C. 68
(Jyp'ri-an Lays, 452
g/pris (Venus), 68, 69, 126, 127, 133,
140; C.34,S9
g/prus, island of, 31, 32, 140, 145, 314,
432; C.34
^yp'se-lus, 241
^y-re'ne, 112, 202, 203; C. J4S
^y-the'ra, island of, 31, 32 ; C. 100
(Jyth-er-e'a (Venus), 127, 128, 134; C
34, 100
^yzl-cus, King of Cyzicus on the Pro-
pontis. Received the Argonauts, but
by mistake was slain by Hercules or
Jason
Daedalus (ded'a-lus or de^da-lus) and
Icarus, 246-248 ; C, 8^-86, lyj
Da'gSn, 432
Damcetas (da-me'tas), a herdsman in
pastoral poetry. See Vif^^ Bucolics 3
552
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Da''in6n« an ideal singer of love in pas-
tonds. See Virgil, Bucolics 8
DanVans or Dan'^a-I, 98, 99
Dan'^a-^, 64; myth of, 208, 213 ; woven
by Arachne, 84; Lamentation of
Danae, 454 ; C. 14^-1^4.
DanVIds or Da-nal-dej, 207 ; C. i4g-
DanVus, daughters of, 166, 170; house
of, 206-228 ; C. 57, table D ; 148 (i),
H9''54
Daphne (dafne), myth of, 11 2-1 14;
explanations of myth, 437 ; C, 8g
Daph-ne-pho'rT-a, C. 30
Daphnis (dafnis), 185, 222, 223-225,
240 ; lines from M. Arnold's Thyrsis,
224, 225; C. J 2^-130^ 1^6-162
Dar^da-nus, 124, 348; C. igo-ig4 (5)
Darkness, 3, 4
Daughter of the Skies, story of; anal-
ogy of incident, C. 101-102 •
Dau'lis, 249, 250
Dawn, goddess of, C. 36. See Aurora
Day, 4
Death (Than'a-tos), 54, 298 ; Hercules*
struggle with, 107-1 10 ; C. 4g
De-Id-a-mi'a. (i) Also called Laoda-
mi'a, daughter of Bellerophon, and
mother of Sarpedon. (2) Daughter of
Lycomedes of Scyros, and mother of
Pyrrhus by Achilles. (3) Also called
HippodamI% wife of Pirithoiis, and
daughter of Atrax
Deimos (drm6s), Dread, a son and
attendant of Mars, 24
De1-6n, C. 123-124; genealogy, 148
(2), (5)
Deiphobus (de-if'o-bus), 280, 302; C.
J go- J 94 (5)
De-ja-ni'ra or Deianira (de-ya-ni'ra),
203, 225, 227, 237, 275; C. 146-147,
168
Dell-a, a name for Diana of Delos
Den68, 29, 247, 347 ; C. 32
Del'phi, 5, 113, 169, 262 ; oracle of, 27,
268, 315, 317, 442; center of the
world, 42 ; C. 30, 38 (4), 8g
Del-phin'i-a, C.30
Del-phy'ne, C.30
Delusion of Gylfi (^^fe), 459
De-me'ter, 263, 442 ; and Pelops, 434 ;
and Springtide, 434 ; C. 40. See Certs
Demigods and Heroes, age of, 16, 17;
in the Theban and Trojan Wars, 17
De-mod'o-cus of Phacacia, 337, 450
Destinies. See Fates
Deterioration, theory of, 436-440
Deucalion (du-ca1i-6n), with Pjrrrha
repeoples the world, 1 6 ; descendants
of, 16, 206, 207, 229; interpretation
of myth, 440 ; C. ig-20, z^<?'(2), (5)
Devas (da'vag). See Hindu divinities
(I)
Di'^a, island of, 1 54, 254 ; old name for
Naxos, C. 110-112
Di-a'na, usually pronounced Di-an'a
(Artemis), moon-goddess, 2, 432;
daughter of Latona, 19, 29; meaning
of names, 29; attributes, 29-31 ; iden-
tified with Selene, 29, 39, 117; her
vengeance on Agamemnon, Orion,
and Niobe, 30, 117, and.'o^ loc.\
favorite animals, 31 ; Ben Jonson's
Hymn to Cynthia (Diana), 31 ; among
the Romans, 59 ; Lucina, 61 ; D. and
Syrinx, 66 ; punishes Niobe, 99-103 ;
myths of, 117-125; Tityus, Python,
Daphne, Callisto, 117 and cul loc.\
CEneus, 117, 237 ; Alpheiis and Are-
thusa, 1 17-120; the fate of Actaeon,
120-122; of Orion, 122, 123; the
Pleiads, 123, 124; Endymion, 124,
125; Procris, 172; Echo, 188; the
Naiads, 1 89-1 91 ; Hippolytus, 260;
Agamemnon and Iphigenia, 280, 281,
316; i^neas, 290; Camilla, 364, 372 ;
C. 32, 58y gs-g8
Dic'te, C. 5
Die-tyn'na: Diana (Artemis) as pro-
tectress of fishermen
Die'tys, a fisherman of Seriphus who
rescued Danae and Perseus from the
waves, and intrusted them to Poly-
dectes, his brother
Di'do, 114, 346, 350-352. 35^ > ^' *^
24S'2S4
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
553
Dietrich (de'tric), 409 ; C. 282-283
Di'ke, personification of justice
Din-dy-me'ne, a surname of Cybele;
from Mount Dindymus in Phrygia ;
C.41
Di'-o-mede, son of Tydeus ; contest with
Mars, 84-86; in Trojan War, 280,
289, 290, 297, 309, 310, 314; C. 68
Di-o-me''de§, son of Mars, owner of the
man-eating mares, 218
Di-o'ne, mother of Venus (Aphrodite),
19, 290; C.26yS4
Dionysia (di-o-nishl-a), C. 42 ^ 110-112
Dionysus (di-o-ni'sus). See Bacchus
Di-os-cu'ri. See Tyndarida
Di'rae. See Furies
Dir'9e, 75
Dis, 83. See Pluto
Discord, Dis-cor'di-a (Eris), 24, 41 ;
apple of, 277, 278
Dith'y-ramb, of Arion, 454
Division of the world among Greek
gods, 6
Do-do'na, oracle of, 19, 20 ; C. 24-2^,30
DoKphin and Apollo, C. 30
D6n'ner, Th6r, 412, 415
Do'ris, 55, 97, 198, 269
Do'rus, Do'ri-an, 16, 119, 120; C. gj ;
genealogy, 103, table G, 148 (2), (5)
Dra'pag, the, 458
Dreams, gates of, 54 ; C. 49
Dry^ads, the, 45, 138, 186; myths of,
191-195 ; C. 131
Dry'o-pe, 191, 192 ; C. 13^
Dwarfs, 401
Dyaus {cf. Zeus, Jupiter). See Hindu
divinities (i)
D/nast, the (Pluto), 167 ; C. 118
E-ehid'na, half serpent, half woman, who
by Typhon bore Cerberus, the Ne-
mean lion, and the Lernaean Hydra
Ech'o (according to rule, E'eho), 188,
189; C. 132-133
Ed'dag, 373, 394 ; derivation of name,
history of poems, 458-460; transla-
tions and authorities, 458-460, notes,
and C, 268-282
E-donl-deg, Mount E'don, C, 42. See
Bacchus
Eetion (e-e'shi-6n or e-etl-on), 291
E-ge'r!-a, 63, 260 ; C. S4
Egypt, 207, 249, 447 ; C, 149-1S4
Egyptians, 442 ; records of myths, 462 ;,
studies on, C, 302
Egyptian divinities, (i) Those of Mem-
phis were Phtha, Ra, Shu and Tef-
net, Seb and Nut, Osiris ^nd Isis,
Seth and Nephthys, Horus and
Hathor. (2) Those of Thebes were
Amen (Ammon), Mentu, Atmu, Shu
and Tefnet, Seb and Nut, Osiris and
Isis, Seth and Nephthys, Horus and
Hathor, Sebek, Tennet, and Penit.
See Encyc. Brit.y and authorities re-
ferred to in C. 302, The following
lists are genealogically arranged:
(i) Phtha, Seb, Ra; (2) Amen, etc.
(i) Phtha or Ptah : chiH- deity fl^Jton^.
phis ; perhaps of foreign origin. His
name means the " opener," or the
** carver." He is called ** the Father
HT^»>^.of the Beginning," and as the prime
architect, or artificer, recalls the
Greek Hephaestus. He is the activity
of the " Spirit," Neph, Chnuphis.
He is represented as a mummy or a
pygmy.
Earth, 3, 4, 5, 8, 97 ; Greek gods of, 42- Pakht and BcLst : a goddess of two forms,
46; Greek conception of world, 42,<.e)^««Hioness-headed or cat-headed. At
43 ; myths of great divinities of, 1 52- Xifi.yX Memphis, Pakht was worshiped as
1 58 ; of divinities of earth and the
underworld, 159-168 ; of lesser divin-
ities of, 181-197. See also Gcea
East of the Sun and West of the Moon,
story of ; analogy of incident, C. loi-
102
wife of Phtha ; at Bubastis, Bast was
adored as daughter of Isis.
Nefer Atum : worshiped at Heliopolis
as the son of Phtha. Like Osiris (see
below), he is the sun of the under-
world.
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
&*; the father of the Osirian gods. He
is the god of earth and its vegeta-
tion ; represented as a man with the
head of a goose ; he corresponds
with the Greek Cronus; his consort
was Nut
Nut : wife of Seb, mother of the Osirian
gods ; the vault of heaven ; she may
be likened to the Creek Rhea.
Osi'ris, or Hesiri: the good principle.
Identified with the vivifying power of
the sun and of the waters of Che Nile.
In general, the most human and most
beneficent of the Egyptian deities.
He is the son of Seb (or, according
tosame,ofNeph,Chnuphis). Hemay
be likened to the Greek Apollo, as a
representative of spiritual light ; to
Dionysus in hisvivifyingfunction. He
wageswar with hJE brother Seth (Set),
the principle of Evil, but is vanquished
by him, boxed in a chest, drowned,
and finally cut into small pieces. His
sister-wife, lais, recovers all but one
piece of the body of O., and buries
them. He becomes protector of the
shades, judge of the underworld, the
sun of the night, the tutelary deity of
the Egyptians. He is avenged by his
son Horus, who, with the aid of Thoth
(reason), temporarily overcomes Seth.
The myth may refer to the daily strug-
gle of the Bun with darkness, and also
to the unending strife of good with
evil, Che course of human life, and of
the life after death. O. is represented
as a mummy crowned with the Egyp-
tian miter.
I'sis, or //« .■ the wife and feminine
counCerparC of Osiris. Represented
as a woman crowned with the sun's
diakor cow's horns, bearing also upon
her head her emblem, the throne.
f/o'rai,OT Mar: son of OsJria and Isis,
who, as the strong young sun of the
day, avenges his father, the sun of the
underworld. He is Honis the child,
Honu the elder (as taking the place
of his father on earth
HorusHarpocrateSitbegodofsilence.
As the latter, he holds a finger tc
lips. He may be compared with the
Greek Apollo.
Harpo^ra-tes : see Horus
Ha'lhor, or Athor: a goddess often
Uci. identified with Isis, She had the head
"^^of a cow and wears the sun's disk, and
plumes. Her name means"Hoiiie(if
Horua." She has characteristics of
the Greek Aphrodite
Seth, ar Set: the principle of physical,
and later of moral, darkness and eviL
He is the opponent of his brother.o
father, Osiris. Representedasamon
ster with ass's body, jackal's ears and
snout, and the tail of a
Nepkthy! : a goddess of the dead ; the
Bister of Isis, and wife of Seth. She
aided Isis to recover the drowned
A'pis: the sacred bull, into which the
life of Osiris was supposed to have
passed. The name also indicates the
Nile. The bull ApU must have ci
tain distinguishing marks; he wai
treated like a god ; and on his death
(he was drowned at twenty-five yean
of age| the land went into mourning
untilbissuccessorwasfound. Hewat
worshiped with pomp in Memphis.
See Sirapis
Sera'pis (or Sir'apis : see Miltan, /bra-
disc Lost, I, 7io) : as Apis represenCf
the living Osiris, so S. the Osiris wh4
had passed into the underworld.
^',1 .' originally Che deity of the physicat
attributes of the sun ; but ultimacel/
the representative of supreme god-
head. Worshiped through all Egypt
and associated with other gods i
are then manifestations of his varioiN
attributes. He is the '
cipleor light, life, and right, but n
over, rather than Bympalhiies n
mankind. Heisof humanform.wnai
times hawk-headed, always crownc
INDEX OF -MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
555
with the sun*s disk. His Greek coun- Thoth : the chief moon-god ; character-
terpart is not Apollo, but Helios. Te^oh' ized by his wisdom, and his patronage
Mentu : Ra, as the rising sun of letters. Husband of Ma-t
Atmu : Ra, as the setting sun ^^^Anubis : son of Osiris. Guide of ghosts
SAu : the solar light ; son of Ra, Mentu,
or Atmu
(2) Ammon, or ^imf^ •* ** the hidden," a
deity of the Egyptian Thebes ; gener-
ally associated in attributes with some
other god. As Amen-Ra he is the
king of Theban gods, the divinity of
the sun. He is of human form ; rarely
with a goat's head, as represented
by the Greeks. He corresponds to
the Greek Zeus. As Amen-Khem he
is the god of productivity, and is
represented with a flail in his hand.
His consort is Mut, or Maut, and
their son is Khuns.
JI£mU or Maut: the mother; the The-
ban goddess of womanhood, wife of
Amen-Ra. She corresponds to the
Greek Demeter.
Khuns: son of Ammon and Maut; a
divinity of the moon. He is some-
times hawk-headed; generally in-
vested with the disk and crescent of
the moon.
Nephi Chnuphisy Khnum^ Nunt, or Nu :
the soul of the universe; the word
or will of Ammon-Ra; the creator.
Represented with the head of a ram.
Kheniy Chem (cf. Milton's Cham), called
also Min: the energizing principle
of physical life. Associated with both
Ammon and Osiris. His counterpart
in classical mythology is Pan, or, as
god of gardens, Priapus.
Ninth : goddess of the upper heaven ;
self-produced; mother of the sun;
goddess, consequently, of wisdom,
the arts of peace and of war. Lik-
ened by the Greeks to Athena. Wor-
shiped in Lower Egypt as a woman in
form, with bow and arrows in her hand.
Ma-t: goddess of truth; her emblem
'-^t* is the ostrich feather, which signifies
— . truth. She is the wife of Thoth.
Eileithyia (I-li-thrya) or Ilithyia (Il-I-
thrya), the name of a goddess, or of
goddesses, of childbirth ; later iden-
tified with Diana ; C. 32
E-lec'tra, daughter of Agamemnon,
275* 276, 315 ; ^- iqO-ig4 {2),228-2SO
E-lec'tra, ^g^^M^ 123, 124; C, 97,
^"4^ (5)» ^90-^94 is)
E-lec'try-6n, 214, 215
Elegiac (e-le'ji-ak or el-e-ji'ak) poets of
Rome, 457
Eleusinia (el-u-sinl-a), Eleusinian mys-
teries; Eleusis (e-lu'sis), 44, 165, 442 ;
C. 114-11^
Eleusis. See Eleusinia
Eleutho (e-lu'tho). See Eileithyia
Elfheim (elf'ham or elfhim), 377, 394
Elgin Marbles, C. ^7, 176-18/
E'lis, 117, 170, and passim; C, ^
Eliudnir (el-I-6od'ner), 377
EUi (erie), 384, 386
Elves, 394 ; C, 268-281
Elysium (e-lizhl-um or e-lizlf-um), Elys-
ian (e-lizh'an or e-liz'I-an) Plain, 43,
274, 356, 360 ; description of Elysian
Fields, 51, 52, 358, 359; Andrew
Lang's Fortunate Islands, 52; (7.
44-46
E-ma'thi-a: Thessaly, or Pharsalia
Em'l)la, 374
En-5era-dus, a Giant, 7
En-€he'li-ans, country of the, 89 ; C. yo
End)rmion (en-dim1-6n), 2, 117, 237;
myth of, 124, 125, 201 ; C, g8 ; gen-
ealogy, 148 (3), (5), 168
Enipeus (e-ni'pus), 170; C. iig-120
En'na, 120, 160, 163 ; C. 9J, 114-117
En-y-alJ-us : the horrible, the warlike ;
an epithet of Mars
Enyo (e-ni'o), mother, daughter, sister,
or wife of Mars ; the horror, 24 ; also
one of the three Graeae
E'6s, 39. See also Aurora
Ep'a-phus, 94, 207 ; C. y6
556
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
E-pe'us, . the artificer of the Wooden
Horse
Eph'^esus, Diana of, C.32; Venus of,
C>34
Eph-I-arte§, 93 ; C. 8
Ep'ics. See Homer, Virgil, Volsunga
Saga, Nibelungenlied, Mahdbhdrata,
R&mdyana
Ep-I-dau'rus, 251
Ep-ig'o-nl, 268
Ep-I-men'l-de§, a Cretan herdsman, who
awoke from a sleep of fifty-seven years
to find himself endowed with gifts of
prophecy, purification, and priestcraft
Epimetheus (ep-i-me'thus), 9 ; marries
Pandora, 1 1 ; C lo-is
E-pi'rus, 349
fir'a-to, the muse of love poetry, 37
Er'da, in Wagner's Ring, 415, 418, 419,
424, 425
fir'e-bus, 4, 135, 162, 259, 363; C. j,
^9, 101-102
Erechtheus (e-rek'thus), 249 ; C, ly^
Er-ich-tho'ni-us, 207 ; descendants of,
249-260 ; C, 148 (4), 174
Er-ieh-tho'nI-us, son of Dardanus and
fourth king of Troy, C. igo-ig4 (5)
E-rid'a-nus, 98 ; C. y6
Erinys (e-rin'is or e-ri'nis), E-rin'y-e§.
See Furies
£r-!-phy'le, 265, 266, 268 ; C. 70
E'ris, 24, 41. See Discord
E'r6s, 3, 4; C.s,j8{i). ^t^ Cupid
Er-y-9i'na, Venus, to whom Mount
Eryx and the city of that name, with
its temple of Venus, were sacred,
25s; C,34
fer-y-man'thus. Mount, 119; boar of,
^ 217; C. 9J, 1S6-162
Er-y-si€h'th6n, m)rth of, 191, 192
£r-y-the'a, island of, 219
Er-y-the'is, one of the Hesperides
E'ryx, Mount, 32, 159; C. 114-iiy
Eskimos, 449
E-te'o-clc§, 264, 266 ; C. i82-i8g, table N
Etruscans, 63, 367
Etzel (et'sel), Lament over the Heroes
of, 461. See Aiiila
Eubcea (u-be'a), 56
Eu-he'mer-us or Eu-hem'er-us (Eue*
merus), Eu-he-mer-is'tic or Eu-hem-
er-is'tic, 436
Eu-mae'us, 339, 340, 343
Eu-menTde§, 256 ; C. 4g. See Furies
Eu-morpus, Eu-morpi-dae, a Thracian
singer and his descendants, priests of
Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries
Eu-phra'te§, 97
Eu-phros'y-ne, one of the Graces, 36
Eu-ripl-deg, 455; references to, no,
215, 242, 261, 265, 266, 281, 313, 315,
316; translations, C. 2g8
Eu-ro'pa, 64, 207, 246 ; myth of, 68-71 ;
portrayed by Arachne, 84 ; C j"/,
table D ; 59 and table E
Eu-ro'tSs, 253
Eu'rus, 38
Eu-ry'a-le, one of the Gorgons
Eu-ry^a-lus, 368-370
Eu-ryblt-e, a Titan, wife of Creiis, C, 4
Eu-ry-cle'a, 341
Eu-ryd'i-5e, 165-168, 202, 203 ; C, 118
?u-ryro-€hus, 324, 325
Eu-ryn'o-me, 36, 90 ; C. 4, 7/
Eu-ry-pha-es'sa, C. 4
Eurystheus (u-ris'thus), 216-220
Eurytion (u-rish1f-6n or u-ritl-6n), 219,
259
Eu-ter'pe, the muse of lyric poetry, 37 ;
C.38{A)
Euxine (uk'sin) Sea, 231
E-vad'ne, 266
E-van'der, 365-367
Eve and the apple, 440
E-ve'nus, 115
E'vi-us, C. 42. See Bacchus
Fable, definition of, i ; distinguished
from myth, 1-2 ; some writers of, 2
Fafner (fav'ner), Fafnir, 412, 415, 419,
420, 422, 423, 427
Fafnir (fav'ner), Fafner, 400, 401. In
Wagner's Ring, see Fafner
Fair, Brown, and Trembling, story of ;
analogy of incident, C. 101-102
Famine, personified, 192
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
557
Farbauti (farOiou-te), 377
Fa'§6lt, 412, 415
Fas'G, Ovid's, 456
Fate (Greek A-nanfke^ Latin Factum),
the necessity above and behind gods
as well as men
Fates, the (Greek Mo^rasj Latin Par^cai),
subject to Jupiter; their office, 38,
106, 107, 163, 167, 237, 240, 269;
daughters of Themis, or of Night, 38 ;
song of, 272 ; C. 38 (6), 4g
Fau''na, 61
Fau'ni, Fauns, 61, 153, 185, 186, 190,
Fau'nus, 61, 198, 362
Fa-vo'nI-us, 38
Fen'ris, 377, 378, 387, 395, 396
Fensalir (fen-sa-ler'), 387, 389
Fe-ro''nJ-a, 63 ; also worshiped in the
mart as a goddess of commerce ; a
Sabine deity
Fi'deg, 63
Flood, the, in Greece, 1 5
Flo'ra, 61 ; loved by Zephyrus, 39; €,^4.
Fon-tl-na'K-a, 62
Fon'tus, 62
For-tu'na, 63
Fox and Grapes, reference to, i
Freia (fre'a), Freya, 412-415. See
Freya
Freki (fra'ke), 375
Freya (fra'a), Freia, 377-380, 393-
See Freia
Freyr (fra^'r) or Froh (fro), 377, 386,
387* 393-395» 412 ; C. 268-281
Frick'a or Frig^ga, 412, 415, 418, 420
Frig'ga or Frick'a, 374, 387, 389, 393 ;
C. 268-281
Froh (fro) or Freyr (fra"r), 412, 413, 415
Frost giant (Ymir), 373
Frost giants, 376, 378, 380, 393, 395
Furies, Fu'ri-ae (E-rin'y-e§, Di'rae, Eu-
men1-de§, Sem'nae : A-lec'to, Ti-siph'-
o-ne, Me-gae'ra), 5, 51, 354, 357 ; at-
tendants of Proserpine, 53, 54 ; mol-
lified by Orpheus, 166; avengers of
Ibycus, 196, 197 ; Orestes pursued
by, 316; C.4gy 140
Gaea (je'a), Ge, or TSr'ra, 4, 5, 6, 44,
220; the Roman Tellus, 59. See
Earth
Gal-a-te'a, the Nereid, 55, 185 ; myth
of Acis, Polyphemus, and G., 198-
200; C, 141
Gal-a-te'a and Pyg-ma'l?-6n, 147 ; C. los
Gandharvas(gund-hur'wa§). Sqg Hindu
divinities (2)
Gan'geg, 97
Gan-y-me'da, a name of Hebe
Gan'y-mede, 36 ; C. $8 {z)
Gardens of the Hesperides, C. 14^-1^4
G4th4s (ga'tag), 463
Gautama (gou'ta-ma). See Buddha
Ge. See GiEa and Earth
Geril-us, reference to, 60
Geml-nl. See Tyndaridce
Ge'nius, the Roman tutelary spirit,
_ 62, 181
Ger'da, 387
Geri (p're), 374
German heroes, myths, and lays, 2,
405-409 ; C. 28s-288t so J
German mythology, narrative of, 405-
409 ; records of, 448, 460, 461 ; trans-
_ lations and authorities, C. 283-288
Ger'n6t, 407
Geryon (je'ri-on), son of Chrysaor and
Callirrhoe, 219
Giallar (giariar), 395
Giants, Greek (Gi-gan'te§), 2, 5 ; war of,
7, 8, 159 ; interpretation of, 440 ; C. 8
Giants, Norse, 373, 376, 412
Gibichungs (gelsiG-oongg), 426-429
Ginnungagap (gin'noon-ga-gap'), 373
Giselher (ge'zel-her), 407
Giuki (giu'Tce), 403
Gladsheim (glats'ham or glats^him), 374
Glau'5e (or Cre-u'sa), 235; C, 163-16^
(Interpret.)
Glau'cus, formerly a fisherman of Boeo-
tia, afterward a sea-god, 58, 204; C,
142. Sometimes confused in mythol-
ogy with the following :
Glau'cus of Corinth, son of Sisyphus
and father of Bellerophon, 200, 201,
214
558
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Glau^cus, grandson of Bellerophon, in
the Trojan War, 280, 290
Gleipnir (glap'ner), 378
Glis'ten-heath, 401
Glyptothek (glip-to-tak') at Munich, of
King Louis I of Bavaria ; one of the
finest collections of ancient statuary
in the world
Gnossus (nos'us), Cnosus, Cnossus, the
ancient capital of Crete; home of
Minos, 256
Gods, the Egyptian. See £!gyptian
divinities
Gods, the great, of Greece, origin of,
4, 8; home of, 18; enumerated, 19;
number of, discussed by Gladstone,
C. 2j ; attributes of gods of Olympus,
19-41 ; lesser divinities of Olympus,
35-41 ; Greek gods of the earth, 42-
46; Greek gods of the underworld,
47-54; Greek gods of the waters,
55-58 ; gods common to Greece and
Italy, 59; distinctively Roman, 59-
63 ; derived from the Etruscans, 63 ;
myths of the great Greek divinities
of heaven, 64-151; of earth, 152-
158; of earth and underworld, 159-
168; of waters, 169-17 1 ; of lesser
divinities of heaven, 172-180; of
lesser divinities of earth and under-
world, 181-197; of lesser divinities
of waters, 198-205 ; C. 22y 23
Gods, the Hindu. See Hindu divinities
Gods, the Norse, 373-397
Golden Age, the, 10, 11, 59, 366; C,
lo-is
Golden Ass, the, 457
Golden Fleece, quest of, 206, 229-233,
455; 0,163-167
GoKgi, a city of Cyprus, beloved by
Venus, 253
Gor'dl-an Knot (Gor'dl-us), C. 113
Gor'gons (Sthe'no, Eu-r/a-le, Me-
dii'sa), described, 57 ; C 140-1^4,
See Medusa
Gothland, Goths, 398, 399
Graces, Gratiae (gra'shl-e), -Ghirlt-teg,
30, 3I; 40, 69, 181 ; attributes of, and
names, 36.; lines by Spenser on the
Graces, 36, 37 ; C.38 {^)
Grae'ae, Gray-women (Di'no, Pe-phre'do,
E-ny'o), described, 57 ; and Perseus,
209 ; C, i4g-i^4
Gram, 401, 404, 405
Gra'ne, 426
Greek, Greeks, 2, 442, 447, 448 ; myths
of creation, 3; view of nature, 181,
435, 443. See also Gods^ Heroes^
Myths
Gre/fell, 401, 403, 405
Grimhild (grim'hilt), 403
Grim-hil'de, 427
Gudrun (good'roon or goo-droon'), 403-
405. See Gutrune
GuUinbursti (gool-in-boor'ste), 393
Gulltop (gool'top), 393
Gunnar (goon'nar), 403-405. See
Gunther
Gunther (goon'ter), 405-409 ; in Wag-
ner's Ring, 426-429 ; C, 282-283
Gutrune (goo-troo'ne), in Wagner's
Ring, 426-429
Guttorm (gdot't6rm), 403, 404
(iy'ej or (j/geg, ^en-tim'a-nus, C 4
tiy'geg, first King of Lydia ; famous for
his riches
GyoU (p6l), 391
Ha'de§, C. 44-46^ ^7, 4g, See Pluto
Ha^deg, realm of, 35, 47 ; C, 44-46, See
Underworld
Hae'mSn, 267 ; C, 182-18^^ table N
Hae-mo'nI-a, 177
Hae'mus, Mount, 96 ; C, 76
Ha'gen, 405, 408, 409; in Wagner's
Ring, 419, 426-430
Hal-5/o-ne, 172; and Ceyx, myth of,
175-177; C,I2S
Ham-a-dr/ads, 186; myths of, 191-195
Happy Isles, the, 345
Har-mo^nl-a, 24, 71, 153; and Cadmus,
89, 90; necklace of, 89, 265, 268;
C, 70
Har'pies, Harpyiae (har'pl-yg or hir-
prye), described, 56, 57, 348, 362;
C, So^S^ ^'^'^ \si}ii\^ C
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
559
Har-poc'ra-tcg. See ^yptian divini-
tits (I)
Ha''th6r, A''th5r. See £gyptian divini-
ties (I)
Heaven, abode of Greek Gods, 4, 5, 6,
18; attributes of Greek gods of, 19-
41 ; mjrths of greater Greek gods
of, 64-151 ; of lesser Greek gods of,
172-180. See Olympus
Heaven, personified, 3. See Uranus
He^be, 18, 86, 234 ; daughter of Juno,
19, 22 ^"alHibutes of, wife of Hercu-
les, 36, 227 ; C. 38 (2)
Hel>rus, 168; C. ij8
Hec'a-b€. See Hecuba
Hec'a-tc, described, 54 ; 232, 233, 234,
354; C,4g
Hec-a-ton-€hi''re§, 4, 6 ; €,4.
Hec/tor, 275,276, 280-306, 313 ; C. igo-
'94 (S)» ^07
Hec/u-ba, 280, 291, 292, 301-305, 312,
313; C igo-ig4 (5), 216^
Heidrun (had'roon or ha-droon'), 376
Heimdall (hamMal or him'dal), 377,
389* 393» 395
H«l, 389, 391, 395
H«ra, 377, 387, 389-392, 39S» 397
Helen, Hel'^na, 237, 242, 243, 259, 275-
279, 287-289, 291, 301, 313, 314; a
iqa-tg4 (3), igs
Hel'g-nus, 313, 349, 350, 451 ; C. igo-
'94 (S)
Helgi (herge) the Hunding's Bane, 460
He-li'a-deg, 98 ; C 76
Hen-c5n, Mount, 96, 453 ; C. 76
He'H-5s, confounded with Apollo, 27,
39 ; family of, 39 ; the sun, 43 ; con-
test with Neptune, 169; cattle of,
330; C. 4y s8 (10), 7S
Herie, 229 ; C. 163-167
Hellen, ancestor of the Hellenes, 16;
sons of, 214, 229 ; C 148 (5), table I
HeHSs-pont, 142, 229, 272 ; C, 104
Hem'er-a, Day, sister of Aether and
daughter of Erebus and Night, 4
Hephaestus (he-f^s^tus), 6*. 2g, See Vul-
can
HSr^a-cle§. See Hercules
Her'cu-leg, HSr'a-cleg, 7, 17, 20, 206,
230, 237 ; frees Prometheus, 1 2 ; pas-
sage from G. C. Lodge's Herakles,
12; son of Alcmene, 64, 107 ; saves
Alcestis from death, 107-110; pas-
sages from Browning's Balaustion's
Adventure, 107-1 10 ; visits Tartarus,
168, 259 ; rescues Hesione, 170 ; con-
test with Acheloiis, 203, 204; myth
of, 215-228; choice of, 216; youth
and labors, 216-221 ; later exploits,
221-225; loss of Hylas, 222, 223;
rescue of Daphnis, 223-225; expedi-
tion against Laomedon, 225; death,
225-228, 455; the Cretan bull, 246;
constellation of, 258 ; arrows of, 309;
interpretations of, 432, 437, 440 ; C
/o-Tf, 136-162
Her'mefi C. 36, log. See Mercury
Her-mi^o-ne, daughter of Menelaus and
Helen, 276,314,349; corruption of
Harmonia, C. 70 (lUustr.)
Her'mod, 389-397 passim
He'ro and Le-anMer, story of, 141 -145;
extracts from Marlowe's Hero and
Leander, 142-144; Keats' sonnet,
On a Picture of Leander, 145 ; C. 104
He-rod'o-tus, 455; reference to, 268,
452
Heroes, the older Greek, 16, 17 ; myths
of, 206-264; the younger Greek,
myths of, 265 ei seq,; the Norse and
the old German, 398-409
Her'se, sister of Aglauros and Pandro-
sos, personifications of the dew,
daughters of Cecrops, C. 123-124, 174
He'si-6d (He-si'o-dus), cited, 4, 10, 16,
26, 31, 38, 51, 246, and footnotes /tfj-
sim ; account of, and of his Works
and Days, and Theogony, 453 ; trans-
lation by Thomas Cooke in Vol. II
of English Translations from Ancient
and Modem Poems, 3 vols., London,
18 10; see also C. /, 2g8
He-si'o-ne, 169, 170, 225, 276, 280; C.
190-194 (5)
Hes'per, Hes'per-us, 31, 40, 41, 160,
272; a 38 {11)
56o
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Hes-pe'ri-a, 348
Hes-perl-de§, Hes'per-ids, the sisters,
the garden of, 40, 41, 57, 211, 219,
220 ; quotation from Milton's Comus,
40; from Tennyson's Hesperides,40,
41 ; C, 4g and table B, i^q-i^^y 1^6-
162
Hes'per-is, 57
Hes'per-us. See Hesper
Hes'ti-a. See Vesta
Hieroglyphs, the, 462
Hil-a-i'ra. (i) Daughter of Apollo. (2)
Sister of Phoebe, daughter of Leucip-
pus; carried off with her sister by
Castor and Pollux. (3) The cheerful^
the moon
Hirde-brand, 409
Him'er-6s, personification of the long-
ing of love, companion of Eros, 36
HJnd'f ell, 401 , 403
Hindu divinities: arranged logically
as (i) Vedic, (2) Brahmanic. For
Buddhism see Buddha
(i) Vedic : the Aryan, and earliest form
of Hindu religion ; dealing primarily
with elemental powers that, in time,
acquired spiritual signification
Vedas: the Sanskrit scriptures; from
root, to know, to be wise ; see p. 462.
Devas : the shining ones, the gods (Gk.
tAeoSf Lat deus)
Dyaus : the shining sky, the elemental
overruling spirit of the primitive
Aryans (Gk. Zeus^ \jiX,Jovis)
Prithivi: goddess Earth, spouse of
Dyaus
Indra : son of Dyaus and Prithivi ; the
atmospheric region ; chief of the gods,
and strongest ; wielder of the thunder-
bolt, lord of the plains, bull of the
heavens, conqueror of the malignant,
thirsty Vritra, gatherer of clouds, dis-
penser of rain ; adored in heaven and
on earth
Varuna: god of the vault of heaven
(root var^ to cover ; Gk. Ouranos^ Lat
Uranus)\ the all-seeing, the pardoner,
merciful even to the guilty
Ushas : the dawn, mother of mornings,
brilliant of raiment, golden-colored,
spreading far and wide, everywhere
awakening men, preparing the path-
way of the sun, and leading his white
steed (Gk. Eos)
Surya : the god who dwells in the sun
{Gk.I/e/ios) "
Savitar: the golden-handed sun in his
daily course ; the shining wanderer,
comforter of men
Soma: a deification of the spirituous
** extract " of the moon-plant ; giver of
strength to gods and men, and of radi-
ant light and joyous immortality
Vayu : god of the wind
Maruts : deities of the storm
Agni : the youngest and one of the most
important of the Vedic gods ; lord of
fire, bom of two pieces of wood rubbed
together; youngestofthedeities, giver
of prosperity to men, their guardian
and companion, passing between
heaven and earth ** like a messenger
between two hamlets" (Lat ignis; cf.
Gk. Hephastus)
Vach: goddess of speech, teacher of
spiritual worship, promoter of wisdom
and holiness
Vritra : the monstrous snake, drinker of
rain-clouds, dark, evil, and malicious,
overcome by Indra {cf, Apollo and
the Python)
Rakshasas : powers of darkness, com-
bated by Indra
l^/n^z, and his sister Yanti: the first man
and woman ; leaving this life they pre-
pared for those that should follow
them blissful abodes in the other
world, of which they are king and
queen
(2) Brahmanic: a philosophical out-
growth of the Vedic religion, which,
on the one hand, was refined into
logical subtleties, intelligible only to
the learned ; on the other hand, crys-
tallized into S3rmbols, rites, and un-
ending conventionalities
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
561
Trimurti: the Brahmanic Trinity, con-
sisting of the following three per-
sons:
Brahma : in the Rig- Veda, a word for
devotion, prayer; later, for the su-
preme principle of the universe, its
source, its essence, and its suste-
nance. Brahma is the creative energy
of the godhead, calm, passionless,
remote from man and the world. He
is four-headed and four-handed.
Vishnu : originally a benevolent Vedic
deity, with certain attributes of the
sun ; adopted by a sect as its special
god, and then annexed by the Brah-
mans as a manifestation of the su-
preme being in his work oi preser-
vation. He has nine times assumed
human form, each incarnation having
for its purpose the redemption of man-
kind from oppression or error. These
incarnations are his ^z/a/arr. His ninth
Avatar^ ^2c^ some, was as Buddha ; in
his tenth he will end this world, and
reproduce Brahma, who will create
things anew.
Siva: originally a bloodthirsty deity,
not of the Vedic, but of some abo-
riginal Hindu religion; absorbed in
the Brahmanic godhead as the mani-
festation of destructive power. He is
adorned with a necklace of skulls
and earrings of serpents.
Sarasvati: goddess of speech (§ee Vach)\
spouse of Brahma
Sriy or Lakshmi: goddess of beauty;
spouse of Vishnu
Uma^ or Parvati (Kali, Durga) : the inac-
cessible, the terrible ; spouse of Siva
Gandharvas : genii of music {cf. Cen-
taurs) ; retainers of Indra
Lokapalas : generic name for the Vedic
deities when degraded by Brahman-
ism to the position of tutelary spirits
Hiordis (h^-dr'dis), 400
Hip-po-cre'ne (anglicized in poetry as
Hip'po-crene, three syllables), C. i^^
Hip-po-da-mi'a, daughter of Atrax, 259
Hip-po-da-mi'a, daughter of CEnomaiis,
170, 171, 275; a 121
Hip-poKy-ta and Hercules, 219 ; C. I'/d-
181 (Textual)
Hip-pory-tus, 150, 259, 260; C. 77^,
table M ; 176-181 (Illustr.)
Hip-p6m''e-d6n, 265
Hip-pom'e-ne§ (or Mi-lanl-Sn), 139-
141, 230; C.103
Hip-pot'a-deg, primarily iEolus II, son
of Hippotes, but in poetry gener-
ally iEolus III, king of the winds,
^•J<?(9)» ^^S
Historians of mythology, in Greece,
455 ; in Norway, 458-460. See Myth^
Preservation of
Hoder (he'der), 376, 387-389, 397;
C. 268-281
Hoenir (he'ner), 400
Hogni (hog'ne), 403-405 ; C. 282-283.
See Hagen
Ho'mer (Ho-me'rus), cited, 3, 4, 18, 21,
23» 25, 31, 35, 47» Si» 75» 84-87, 9I;
99, 104, no, 115, 123, 150, 169, 180,
202, 214, 215, 246, and footnotes
pctssim ; story of Iliad and Odyssey,
283-345 ; relation to myth, 433 ; ac-
count of, 451, 452; C. 5, 23, igsy
2g8
Ho-mer'ic Hymns, 150, 177, 452
Ho-mgr1[-dae, "sons of Homer," lived
in Chios, and claimed to be descended
from Homer. They were hereditary
epic poets ; C. 2g8
Horace (Ho-ra'tius), 2, 457 ; references
to his poems, 77, 177, 207, 214;
note on, and translations, C. 2gg
Ho'rae. See Hours
Ho'rus, son of Osiris. See Egyptian
divinities (i)
Hours, or Seasons, the, 18, 22, 28, 31,
38, 40, 94, 95, 178, 179, 181 ; C.38 (5)
Hrim-thursar (rem'ther-sar), 376
Hringham (reng'ham), 392
Hugi (hoo^ge), 383, 385
Hugin (hoo'g^n), 374
Hunding (hoon'ding), 400, 401 ; in
Wagner*s Ring, 416-420
562
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
V
Hunland, Huns, 398, 404, 409 ; C. 282-
Huns, the, 398
Hy-a-9in'tM-a, C jo, 75
Hy-a-9in'thus, 93, 94, 103 ; C. ys
Hy'a-deg, the, daughters of Atlas, 57,
152,344; C. 110-112
H/a-le, 121
H/dra, 51, 354, 357; the Lemaean,
217 ; C. 1^6-162 (Interpret.)
Hy-ge'a, Hy-gi'a, daughter of iEscula-
pius ; the goddess of health
Hyginus (hi-ji'nus), references to, 75,
123, 160, 170, 208, 215, 241, 243, 246,
249, 265, 269 ; C. 2gg
H)^las, the loss of, 222, 223 ; C. 1^6-
162 (Illustr.)
Hy'men (Hy-mS-nae'us), 36, 165; C.j8
(I)
Hy-per-bo're-ans (Hy-per-bo're-i), 26,
42, 92 ; Thomas Moore's Song of a
Hyperborean, 43 ; C. jg, 74
Hy-pe'ri-6n or Hy-per-i'8n, 4 ; C. ^
Hy-p€r-mnes'tra, 207 ; C. i4g-i^4
Hypnos (hip'nos). See Sleep
I-ac'chus, C. J14-JJJ. See Bacchus
I-ap'e-tus, 4, 5, 6, 8 ; C. 4 ; descend-
ants of, 148 (5), table I
lasius (i-a'sM-us), 237
Ib>cus, 196, 197, 453 ; C, J40
I-ca'ii-us, 279, 338 ; C. igo-ig4 (3)
Ic'a-rus, 222, 246, 247 ; C. 17s
l9^e-lus, a producer of dreams, son of
Somnus, C. 12^
I'da, Mount, 96, no, 278; C. 76
I'da, the nymph, 5
I'da, the plain, 397
I-dae'us, 305
I-da'lI-um, a mountain and city of Cy-
prus, dear to Venus, 253
rdSs, 115, 116, 243
Idomeneus (i-domVnus), 286, 288
Iduna (e-doon'a), 376
IlTad, narrative of, 283-306; a kind
of myth, 433, 448 ; history of, 452,
4S3» 463; illustrative of, C. igs;
translations, 2g8; cited, see foot-
notes passim^ and Cawper, Derby ^
Gladstone^ Lang^ Pope^ in Index of
Authors
in-ad, the Little, 453
in-6n, in-um, 179. See Troy
Ilioneus (i-li'o-nus), 100
Ilithyia (il-I-thi'ya). See Eileithyia
Il-I-u-per'sis, the, 453
I^lus, son of Dardanus, died without
issue
I'lus, son of Tros, C. jgo-ig4 (5)
In'a-ehus, son of ^Oceanus, ancestor of
the Arg^ve and Pelasgic races, 17,
206 ; father of lo, 6$, 207 ; ancestor
of Minos, 246 ; Theban descendants
of, 261 ; C. S7 and table D, 148 (i)
India, 1 53, 447, 448 ; records of myths
of, 462, 463; epics, 153, 462, 463;
studies and translaiions of literature
of, C.303
Indians, red, mental state of, 441 ;
myths of, 448
Indo-Europeans, 448
In'^dra, C. log. See Hindu divinities (i)
Tno, 89, 156, 202, 229, 261 ; C. 144
I'o, 64, 94, 207 ; myth of, 65-67 ;
Ionian Sea, 67 ; interpretation of
myth, 439 ; genealogy, etc., C. /;,
i4g-iS4
I-ob'a-te§, 214, 215
I-o-la'us, 217, 221
I-orc6s or I-ol'cus, 230 ; C. 163-167
I'o-le, daughter of Eurytus, who refused
to give her to Hercules, although
the hero had fairly won her by his
success in archery. Eurytus assigned
as the reason for his refusal the ap-
prehension lest Hercules might a
second time become insane, and in
that condition destroy lole in spite
of his love for her. By some she is
made the half-sister of Dryope ; 192,
225, 432
I'on, C J74
I-o'nI-a, 175
I-o'nI-an Sea, 67
I-o'nI-ans, origin of, 16 ; C. 148 (2)
Iph1-cle|, 216, 221
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
563
Iph-i-ge-ni'a, 275, 276; in Aulis, 280,
281 ; in Tennyson's Dream of Fair
Women, 281 ; among the Taurians,
316; C. igo-ig4 (2), 796, 228-230
(In Art)
ph-i-me-di'a, 93
'phis, 19s
phl-tus, 221
'ris, 40, 41, 176, 287, 296, 304, 367;
C.sS{i2)
ron Age, the, 1 5
'sis. See Egyptian divinities (i)
stands of the Blest, 51*52. See Elysium
sles, the Fortunate, 52. See Elysium
s'ma-rus, 318
s-me'ne, 263 ; C i82-i8g
s-me'nos, son of Niobe, 100
s'tar, C.J4. See Venus
sthmian Games, 202 ; C, iy6-i8i
(Textual)
talian gods, 59-63
taly, 260, 348, 352, 360
th'a-ca, 278, 279, 318, 337, 338, 448, 452
t'y-lus. See Itys
'tys (i'tis), 249
-u'lus, As-ca'ni-us, 362, 363, 369, 372
x-i'6ni 166, 167, 358 ; C. 118, 235-257
a'na, 61
a-nic'u-lum, 366
a'nus, 60, 61, 363, 366; C,54
amvid (yam'ved), 392
a'sius, Ja'sus, I-a'sius, I-a'sus, father of
Atalanta the Arcadian. See lasius
a'son, 206 ; myth of, 230-235 ; quest
of the golden fleece, 230-233, 455 ;
C. 16J-167
o-cas'ta, 262, 263 ; C. i82-i8g^ table N
onah and Arion, 440
onakr (y6n'a-ker), 405
ormunrek (ydr'moon-rek), 405
otham, I. Set Judges 9, 7
otunheim (ye'toon-ham or ye'toon-
him), 374, 379, 380, 394
u'bal, 440
u'no (He'ra, He're), 5, 7, 19 ; meaning
of her names, 22 ; attributes of, her
descent and marriage, 22; favorite
cities and animals, 22 ; among the
Romans, 59 ; Lucina, 61 ; protectress
of women in Rome, 62; myths of
Juno and Jupiter, 64-81 ; J. and La-
tona, 64 ; lo, 65-67 ; Callisto, 67, 68 ;
Semele, 71 ; iEgina, 73 ; the sons of
Cydippe, 80, 81 ; Vulcan, 90, 91 ;
Bacchus, 152; Neptune, 169; Hal-
cyone and Iris, 176; Echo, 188;
Hercules, 216, 219, 227 ; Paris, 278 ;
in Trojan War, 284, 285, 289, 295-
298; iEneas, 350, 363-367, 372;
C.26
Ju'pi-ter (Zeus), 5 ; war with Titans, 5,
6 ; sovereign of the world, 6 ; reign
of, 6-8 ; creation of woman, 1 1 ; sends
a flood to destroy men, 1 5 ; his abode,
18; his family, 19; signification of
names, 19, C. 24; attributes, 19-21 ;
his oracles, 19, 20 ; explanation of
his love affairs, 20; other children
of, 20; Greek conceptions of, 21;
in art, statue of Ol3rmpian Jove by
Phidias, 21 ; J. and Juno, 22; and
Minerva, 23 ; and Metis, C. 55 ; and
Vulcan, 25; and Latona, 26, 29, 64 ;
and Dione, 31 ; and Maia, 34; and
Vesta, 35; and Ganymede, 36; and
Eurynome, 36 j and Mnemosyne, 37 ;
and Themis, 38 ; and iEsculapius,
38; and Semele, 44, 64, 71-73, 288;
among the Romans, 59; mjrths of,
64-80; Danae, 64, 208; Alcmene, 64,
215; Leda, 64, 242, 275; lo, 64-67;
Callisto, 64, 67, 68, 241 ; Europa, 64,
68-71, 246; iEgina, 64, 73-75; An-
tiope, 64, 75-77 ; Baucis and Phile-
mon, 77-80 ; treatment of Mars, 85,
86; the Aloadae, 93; Phaethon, 9S;
iEsculapius, 104; the Pleiads, 123;
Cupid and Psyche, 136$ Bacchus,
152; Ceres, 162; Neptune, 169;
Ceyx and Halcyone, 177 ; Tithonus,
177, 180; the Cercopes, 22a; Her-
cules, 227; Castor and Pollux, 243;
Amphiaraiis, 265; Capaneus, 266;
Peleus and Thetis, 269; in Trojan
War, 278, 285-305, 312; Ulyssci,
564
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
331; ^neas, 351, 356, 372; Salmo-
neus, 357 ; interpretations of, 434,
437 ; C. J", /o-//, 24-2S, SSi 57^ 5^^
S9, 6oy 61
Ju-tur'na, 62, 245
Ju-ven''tas. See Hebe
Ju-ven''tus, 63
Kali (ka''le). See Uma under Hindu
divinities (2)
Kar'ma: in Buddhism, the sum of a
man's deeds, good and evil, which
determines the nature of his future
existence. See Buddha and Metemp-
sychosis
Khem (kem). See Egyptian divinities {2)
Khuns (koonz). See Egyptian divini-
ties (2)
Kle'is, C. 107
Ko'ra, Ko're (Proserpina), 107 ; C, 8j
Kriemhild (krem'hilt), The Revenge
of, 405-409, 461
Kro'n6s. See Cronus
Lab'da-cus, house of, 206, 207, 261-264 ;
C. S7^ table D; 148 (i); 182-189,
table N
Lab'y-rinth, the, of Crete, 246, 253;
C. 172
Iil9-e-dae'm6n. See Sparta
Lach^e-sis, a Fate, 38
La-co^ni-a, 51, no
LaM6n, the serpent that guarded the
apples of the Hesperides; slain by
Hercules
La-er'teg, 278, 339 ; genealogy, C. igo-
^94 (4)
Lsestrygonians (les-tri-go'nl-ang), the,
170,324
Lal-us, 261, 262 ; C. 182-189, table N
Lakshmi (l^ksh^me). See Hindu divin-
ities (2)
Lamb's month, C. 79
Lampetia (lam-pe'shl-a), 330
Language, disease of, 437, 438, 446
La-oc'o-6n, 311,312; C. 224
La-od-a-mi'a, daughter of Bellerophon,
298
La-od-a-mi'a, wife of Protesilaus, 282 ;
lines from Wordsworth, 282, 283;
C.83
La-om'e-don, no, 169, 170, 177, 276,
280; expedition against, 206, 225;
C. 84, 190-194 (5)
Lap-i-thae, 259
La're§, distinguished from Penates,
Manes, Larvae, etc., 62
La-ris'sa, 108, 214; C. 8j
Lar'vae, 62
La-ti'nus, 362
Lat'mos, Mount, 1 24 ; C. 98
La-to'na, Le'to, children of, 19; and
Delos, 29 ; and Jupiter, 64 ; wander-
ings of, 91, 92; and Niobe, 99-103;
heals iEneas, 290 ; C. J2, 72-7J
Lau'sus, 364, 370,371
La-vinTa, 362, 372
Le-an'der, 141-145: C. J04. See Hero
Leb-a-de'a, C.jo
Le-byn'thos, 247
Le'da, 64, 237, 242, 359, 275; myth of,
represented by Arachne, 84 ; C. 168,
table K ; 170-171, 190-194 (3). See
Castor and Pollux
Le'laps, 175
Lem'nos, 25, 122, 231, 309; C. 96, 107.
163-167
Lem'u-re§, 62
Le-nae'a, C 42, 110-112
Ler-nae'an H)r'dra, 217
Leg'bos, 149; C 107
Lesser divinities of heaven among the
Greeks, 35-41
Le'the, 51, 176, 359, 360; C, 44-46
Le'to, C JO, J2. See Latona
Leucadia (lu-ca'di-a), 454 ; C. 107
Leucippus (lu-sip'us), 243
Leucothea (lu-coth'e-a), a sea-divinity,
58, 202, 205, 331 ; C 144
Li'ber, 59. See Bacchus
Lib'er-a, 59. See Proserpina
Li-beth'ra, 168; (7. 118
Lib-I-ti'na, C 48
Lib'y-a, 97, 219; C. 76
Li^chas, 226
Lidskialf (lids'k^alf), 388, 389
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
565
lA'ge% 205 ; C. 146-14J
Light, 3, 4
Li^nus, 216, 451 ; lamentation for, 103,
104 ; C. 73", 79
Ut-y-er'seg, 222, 223-225
Log, King, referred to, i
Lo'ge, 412-414, 421. See Loki
Logi (lo'ge), 382, 385
Lo-ka-pa'^lag. See Hindu divinities (2)
Loki (lo'ke), Lo'ge, 377-397 passim^
400, 412
Lo'tis, 192
Lo't6s, lotos-eaters, 318, 319; extract
from Tennyson's poem, 319, 320
Love, 3, 4
Lucian (lu'shan), 455, 457 n
Lu'9i-fer. See Phosphor
Lu'9i'na, 61 ; C. 26
Lu^na, 63. See Diana and Selene
Ly-ae'us, C. 42
Ly-ca''6n, 300
Lycia (lishlf-a), 214, 298; C. i^^
Lycians (lish1[-an§), 71
Lycidas (lis'i-das), a goatherd of pasto-
ral poetry. See Theocritus^ Idyl 7;
Virgily Bucolics 9; Milton'' s Elegy on
Edward King^ etc.
Lycius (lishl-us), Apollo, C jo
Lycomedes (lik-o-me'de§), 260, 279
Ly'co-phrSn, C. 2g8
Ly-cur'gus, a king of the Edones, who,
like Pentheus, resisted the worship
of Bacchus
L/cus, 75; C. 62
L/de, 189
Lynceus (lin'sus), 207, 243
Lyngi (linage), 400
Lyric poets, Greek, 453, 454; transla-
tions of, C. 2g8; Roman, 457
Lytyerses (lit-i-er'seg). See Lityerses
Ma-€ha'6n, 296, 297, 309
Ma-cro'bi-us, referred to, 60
Mae-an'der, 97, 222, 246; C. 7^, 172
Maenades (men^a-de§). Maenads (me^-
nads), 44, 45» 75» 254 ; C. 62, 110-112
Maenalus (men'a-lus), a range of moun-
tains in Arcadia, sacred to Pan, 112
Mae-o'ni-a, 1 54 ; C, 110-112
Mae-onl-deg : a native of Maeonia;
Homer
Mag'na Ma'ter, 59
Mah^bh^rata (ma-ha-ba'ra-ta), 462 ;
translation, C.joj
Maia (ma'ya), mother of Mercury (Her-
mes), 19, 34, 150; C. log
Maia (ma'ya), Ma'ja, or Ma-jes'ta : a
name for Fauna, or for the daughter
of Faunus and wife of the Roman
Vulcan. In either case, called Bona
Dea
Man, origin of, Greek, 8, 9
Ma^neg, 62
Ma-nill-us, C 2gg
Man^tii-a, 456
Mar'a-th6n, 258
MSr-a-tho'ni-an Bull, 252; C, iy6-i8i
(Interpret.)
Ma'ro. See Virgil
Mar-pes'sa, 115, 116
Mars (A'reg), one of the great gods, 19 ;
meaning of names, 23 ; attributes, 23,
24; his retinue, his mistress, his
favorite abode and animals, 24;
among the Romans, 59; father of
Harmonia, 71, 89; myths of, 84-90;
and Diomede, 84-86, 290; and Mi-
nerva, 86, 87 ; and Cadmus, 87-90,
261 ; and Vulcan, 91 ; father of OEno-
maiis, 170; M. and Atalanta, 265; in *
Trojan War, 285, 287, 290; C. 28
Marsyas (m'ar'si-as), 112, 138, 451; C,
Maruts (mur'oots). See Hindu divini-
ties (i)
Mass, 4
Ma-t. See Egyptian divinities (2)
Ma'ter Ma-tii'ta, the goddess of the
dawn, • Aurora ; among the Romans
the name was applied also to Ino
(Leucothea), 63
Ma'ter Tur'ri-ta : Cybele, or Cybebe,
with the mural crown, as protectress
of walled cities
Mat-ro-na'll-a, C. 26
Me-co'ne. See Sicyon
566
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Me-de'a, myth of, 232-236, 242, 243,
252* 455; ^- 163-167; genealogy,
77^, table L
Medici (med'^che), the Venus of, 32,
33; C.3S
Me-du'sa, myth of, 208-211; extract
from William Morris* Doom of King
Acrisius, 209, 210; from Shelley's
Medusa of Da Vinci, 210; C. i4.g-
Me-|jae'ra, 54
Meg-a-len'sian Games, C. 41
Meg^a-ra, 201, 202, 246
Meg'a-ra, wife of Hercules, 216, 220
Me-lam'pus, 450
Mel-e-a'ger or Me-le'a-^er, 206, 225,
231, 242, 265, 275; myth of, 237-
241 ; as the sun, 432 ; C. 168
Mel-e-sig'e-neg, C. 2g8
Melibceus (mel-i-be'us), a herdsman
of pastoral poetry. See Virgil^ Bu-
colics I
MeKic Nymphs, 5
Mel-i-9ei:^te§, a sea-god, 58, 202, 261 ;
C, 70
Melisseus (me-lis'us), C. 146-147
MelSs, the Venus of, 32 ; C. SS
Mel-pom'e-ne, the muse of tragedy, 37 ;
C.38{A)
Mem^n6n, myth of, extract from Dar-
win's Botanic Garden, 179, 180, C.
128 ; family connections, 276, C. igo-
ig4 (5) ; at Troy, 307
Mem'phis, a city in middle Egypt,
C.30
Me-nal^cas, a herdsman of pastoral
poetry
Men-e-la'us, 275, 278-299, 313, 314;
C. igo-ig4 (2), 79/, ig6
Me-ne'ni-us, 2
Menoeceus (me-ne'sus), 266; C, 182-
i8g, table N
Menoetius (me-ne'shl-us), son of Actor
and father of Patroclus; an Argo-
naut; (7, igo-ig4 (4)
Men'tor, C, 231-244
Mentu (men'too). See Egyptian divini-
ties (I)
Mer'cii-ry, Mer-cii'ri-us (Her^mes), son
of Maia, 19; meaning of name, 34;
attributes, 34> 35 ; conductor of ghosts,
35, 47 ; among the Romans, 59; Ar-
gus and lo, 66, 67 ; his story of Pan
and Syrinx, 66, 67; with Philemon
and Baucis, 77; and Psyche, 136;
myths of, Hdmeric Hymn to, 150,
151; aids Perseus, 209; aids Her-
cules, 220; father of Daphnis, 223,
224; M. and Nephele, 229 ; and Priam,
305; and Ulysses, 325, 331; and
i^neas, 351 ; interpretations of, 432,
440; C.36, log
MSr'o-pe, of Arcadia, 241 ; C. i6g
Mdr'o-pe, daughter of CEnopion, 122
MSr'o-pe, the Pleiad, 124; C.g7^iS5y
table
Mes-se'ne, 115, 243
Mes-se'ni-a, 241 ; C. 80
Met'a-bus, 364
Met-a-mdr'pho-seg, Ovid's, 456, 457
Me-temp-sy-€ho''sis, 360 ; C, 2^^-2S7
Me'tis, C /z
Mezentius (me-zen^shl-us), 364, 367,
370, 371
Mi^das, with Apollo and Pan, no, iii ;
with Bacchus and Pan, 152, 157, 158;
the choice of, 1 57 ; C. 8^-87^ 113
Mid'gard, 373, 374, 378, 389, 392, 394
Mid'gard serpent, 377, 386, 387, 395
Mi-lanl-6n (or Hip-pom''e-ne§), C. 103
Mi'lo. See Melos
Mi'mas, C. 8
Mime (me^me), in the Rhinegold, 414,
421-424 ; in the Volsunga Saga,
see Regin
Mimir (me'mer), 374
Ml-ner'va (A-the'na, A-the'ne), 7 ; quo-
tation from Odyssey, 18 ; daughter
of Jupiter, 19 ; attributes, 23 ; mean-
ing of her names, 23 ; her agis, 23;
favorite cities and animals, 23 ; among
the Romans, 59; myths of, 81-84;
contest with Neptune, 81, 82, 249;
with Arachne, 82-84 ; quotation from
Spenser's Muiopotmos, 83 ; contests
with Mars, 84-86; helps €admus»
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
567
88, 89; inventor of the Ante, 112;
M, and Medusa, 208 ; Perseus, 209,
213; Bellerophon, 215; Hercules,
216, 220; Perdiz, 248; Srichthonius,
249; Theseus, 256; Tiresias, 266;
Paris, 278 ; in Trojan War, 284, 289,
290, 300, 302, 308-31 1 ; Orestes, 317 ;
Ulysses, 332-340 ; C. lo-iSf 2y
M¥-nold (Ml-no'is), Ariadne; daughter
of Minos, 254
Mi'nds I, judge of the shades, 51, 53,
356; son of Europa, 71, 207; the
house of, 206, 246-248; C//, table
D, 148 (I), 172
Mi^nds II, 201 ; myths of, 242, 246, 247,
252, 259, 275
Minotaur (min'^o-tdr), 246, 252, 256;
C. 172^ 176-181
Minyae (minlT-e) : descendants of Min-
yas, king of Thessaly ; Argonauts
Mist, 3
Mnemosyne (ne-mosTne), 4; mother
of the Muses, 37 ; C. 4
Moerae (me're), Par'9ae. See Fates
Moeragetes (me-raj'e-te§): name applied
to Zeus as leader of ^e Fates
Moly, 319, 325
Mo'mus, C. 4g^ table B
Mongolians, 448
Mop^sus, attendant of the Argonauts,
Mop'sus, an ideal singer of elegies.
See Virgil^ Bucolics ^
Morpheus (m6r'fus), 177 ; C. 12^. See
Somnus
Mdrg, Than'a-t6s, Death, 298
Mos'chus, Lang*s translation of Idyl
II, 68-70; of Idyl VI, 189; C.S9,
2g8
Mountain giants, 376, 378-386, 393
Mur9l-ber, 59 ; C. 2g
Munin (m6o''nin), 374
Munychia (mu-nikl-a), €.32. ^^^ Diana
Mu-sae'us, a mythical poet, 451
Mu-sae'us, writer of Hero and Leander,
141 ; translation by Fawkes in Eng-
lish Translations from Ancient and
Modern Po^ros, VoL II ; C. 104, 2g8
Mu-sag'e-tef : name of Apollo as leader
of the Muses
Muses (Mii^'sae), 18, 30; names and at-
tributes, 37; C.j^(4)
Music, Lydian, Dorian, etc^ C. ^g
Muspelheim (moos'pel-ham or moos'-
pel-him), 373, 395
Mut (moot), or Maut See Egyptittn
diuinitits (2)
My-^e'nae, 22, 216, 275, 280, 316
Myg-do''ni-an flutes, 69 ; C^g
M3rrmidons (mer^mi-d6n§), 75, 269, 297 ;
C.61
MjT^ron, a sculptor, C, 64
Myr'rha (mir'a), 126, 150
Myrtilus (mer'ti-lus), 171
Mysia (mishTa), 179, 222, 231 ; C. 128^
1^6-162
Mysteries of Eleusis, C. 114-117
Myth, stages of mythological philoso-
phy, study of myth, see Introduc-
tion ; definition of, i ; compared with
fable, I, 2; of existent races, 2; Greek
myths of creation, 3-17; of great di-
vinities of heaven, 64-151 ; of great
divinities of earth, 152-158 ; of earth
and underworld, 159-168; of waters,
1 69- 1 71 ; of lesser divinities of
heaven, 172-180; of lesser divinities
of earth and underworld, 181-197 ; of
lesser divinities of waters, 198-205;
of the older heroes, 206-264 ; of the
younger heroes, 265 ct seq. ; of the
Norse gods, 373-397 ; of Norse and
Old German heroes, 398-409. Kinds
of myth, 431 ; explanatory, 431 ; aes-
thetic, 432 ; aesthetic myth is historic or
romantic f 433 ; of unconscious growth,
► 433 ; divisions of inquiry, 433. Origin
and Elements of myth, 433-446 ; the
reasonable element, 434 ; part played
by imagination, 434; and by beUef,
435 ; the unreasonable element, 436 ;
theories of, 436 ; theory of deteriora-
tion, 436-440; theory of progress,
440-446. Interpretation, methods
of : historical or Euhemeristic, 436 ;
philological, 437; allegorical^ 438;
568
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
theological^ 439; the mental state of
savages, 440-442 ; senseless element,
a survival, 442 ; anthropological
method of study, etiological origin,
442; other germs than savage curiosity
and credulity, 442 ; phases of myth-
development, 443-445 ; physical, re-
ligious and moral import, 444 ; myth
more than sham history, 446; gen-
eral conclusion concerning elements
of myth, 446. Distribution of myth,
447-449; theories of accident^ bor-
rowing, origination in India, histori-
cal tradition, 447 ; Aryan germ, psy-
chological basis, 448 ; the state of the
problem, 449. Preservation of myth,
450-463; in Greece, 450-4S5; in
Italy, 456, 457 ; in Scandinavian
lands, 457-460; in Germany, 460,
461 ; in the Orient, 462, 463. Inter-
pretation and illustration of myths,
see Commentary sections correspond-
ing to those of the Text
Mythical musicians and poets, 451
Mythical prophets, 450, 451
Mythical tales of the Younger Edda, 459
Naiad (na^'yad), the poem by R. Bu-
chanan, 190, 191
Naiads (na^yads), Naiades (na'ya-de§),
58, 98, i86*, 189-191, 198, 204, 222,
224; C.SO-S2
Na'is, 185 ; C. J2q-i^o
Na^a, episode of, 461, 462
Nalopikhyinam (na-lo-pa-kya'nam),
translation of, C. joj
Names, Greek and Latin, system of
transliteration of, see •Preface; pro-
nunciation of, 541, 542, and Index .
Nan'na, 390-392 ; C, 268-281
Nar-9is''sus, 188, 189; C. 132-133
Nausicaa (n6-sik'a-a), 332-336 ; C. 231-
244
Nausithoiis (n6-sith'o-us), 332
Nax'6s, 153, 154, 155, 156, 169, 257;
C. 110-112
Ne-ae'ra, a maiden of pastoral song.
See Virgilf Bucolics 3
Nefer Atum (na'f^r a'^toom). See Egyp-
tian divinities (i)
Neidings (ni'ding§), 416
Neith (na'ith). See Egyptian dimnities,
(2)
Neleus (nelus), 170
Ne'me-a, the city, the valley, and the
lion of, 216; C, 1^6-162
Ne-me'an* or Ne'me-an, Games, founded
by Hercules; held in honor of
Jupiter ; C 176-181 (Textual)
Nem'e-sis, 38 ; €,38 (7)
Ne-op-tol'e-mus, 276, 293, 309, 313,
3M» 349
Ne-pen'the, 314
Neph (n^f),Chnuphis(kn6o^fis),Khnum
(knoom), Num or Nu (noom, noo).
See Egyptian divinities (2)
Nephele (nef'e-le), 121, 229
Nephthys (nef'this). See Egyptian di-
vinities (i)
Nep'tune, Nep-tu''nus (Po-seiM6n), 5,
6, 1 5, 204, 454 ; sometimes reckoned
as one of the great gods, 19 ; founder
of the younger dynasty of the waters,
55» 56 ; among the Romans, 59 ; con-
test with Minerva, 81, 82, 249; N.
and Iphimedia, 93; and Phaethon,
97; and Laomedon, no, 169, 170;
and Idas, 115; father of Orion, 122,
170; myths of, 169-17 1 ; N. and An-
dromeda, 169; sons of N., 170; N.
and Amymone, and Ceres, and Ame,
and Tyro, and Pelops, 170, 171 ; and
Erysichthon, 192 ; his sea calves pas-
tured by Proteus, 202; his son An-
tseus, 220; and Minos, 246; and
Hippolytus, 260; in Trojan War,
285, 293-296, 301, 311 ; and Ulysses,
337 ; and iEneas, 350, 352 ; C. so-
^2, table C
Ne're-ids (Ne-rel-dgj), the, 55, 69, 97,
247
Nereus (ne'rus), 55, 97, 198, 204, 269
Nes'sus, 225
Nes'tor, 179, 231, 237, 239; in Trojan
War, 280, 285, 286, 294-297
Netherlands, 405, 406
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
569
Nibelheim (nelDel-ham or nelDel-him),
412 ^/ seq,
Nibelung (ne'be-ldong), Wagner's Ring
of the, 410-430
Nibelungenlied (ne''be-ld6ng'en-let'),
405-409 ; theories of origin, 460, 461 ;
€,283
Niblungs (ne^bloongg), Nibelungs (ne'-
be-ld6ng§), Nibelungen (ne'be-loong-
en), 403-430; lay of the, 405-409,
460, 461 ; Wagner's Ring of the,
410-430; €.282,283,282-283
Ni-can'der, C. 2g8
Nidhogg (ned'h6g), 374
Niflheim (nev"l-ham or nlf'l-him),
373» 374» 377» 379. 394; C. 282-
283
Night, Nyx (nix), Nox, a prime element
of Nature, 3, 4 ; mother of the Fates
and of Nemesis, 38, 176, 196; family
of, C^9, table B
Ni^'ke, 41. See Victoria
Nile, the river, 97, 180 ; C 14^-1^4.
Nimrod and the giants, 440
Ni'nus, 148
Ni'o-be, 77, 170; the punishment of,
99-103 ; quotation from Landor's
Niobe, 102, 103; genealogy, inter-
pretation, etc., C. y8
Nirvana (ner-va'na) : annihilation, or
absorption into the Infinite, of the
Karma (human character, or soul)
after it has passed through innumer-
able existences, and learned the\ir-
tuous life. See Buddha
Ni'sus, father of Scylla, 201, 202
Ni'sus, friend of Euryalus, 368-370
Noah and Deucalion, 440
No'mI-6s, No'ml-us, an epithet applied
to Apollo as the pasturer or herds-
man ; see 104-106, 1 10 ; C, 30 (In
Art)
N6rns,374, 375, 388, 402; in Wagner's
Ring, 424, 426
Norse gods, myths of, 2, 373-397 ; C,
268-281
Norse heroes, myths of, 398-405; C
268-282
Norse mythology, narrative of, 373-
405; records of, 457-460; transla-
tions and authorities, 458-460 notes,
and C. 268-282
North American Indians, mental state
of, 441 ; myths of, 448
Norway, Norsemen, 442, 448 ; C. 268-
281
Nos'toi, the, 453
Nothung (no'toong), 418, 421-425
No'tus, 38
Nox, Nyx (nix). See Night
Nu'ma Pom-piH-us, 61, 63 ; C. 28
Nut (noot). See Egyptian divinities (i)
Nycteus (nik'tus), 75; €,62
Nymphs, the, 45, 46, 97, 180, 189, 205 ;
€131
Ny^sa, an ideal maiden in pastoral
poetry
Ny'sa, Nysian-bom (nishT-an), 258.
Three cities bore the name of Nysa,
— in Caria, in Palestine, and in India;
the last is here referred to; C 42,
110-112
Nysaean (ni-se^an) nymphs, 152
Nyx (nix), N6x. See Night
O-a'sis or O'a-sis, in Libya, oracle of
Jupiter Ammon at, 20
Oblivion, valley of, 359, 360
Ocean, 0-9e'a-nus, the river, 3, 35, 42,
43» 327. 328
0-9e'a-nids, 55, 58
0-9e'a-nus, the Titan, 4, 5, 22; older
dynasty of the waters, 55, 67, 68, 204,
207 ; C. 4, so-S^
Ocyrrhoe (o-sir'o-e), 104
O'din, 373-377i 386-405 passim; in
Wagner's Ring, 412-430; interpre-
tation of, 437 ; C 268-281
Odysseus (o-dis'us). See Ulysses and
Odyssey
Odyssey (odl-sl), cited, 18, 35, 47, 51,
and footnotes /d^rx/m ; hero of, 275,
276; narrative of, 318-345; Lang's
sonnet, 318; a kind of myth, 433,
448 ; history of, 452 ; translations and
authorities, C. 231-244, 2g8
570
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
CEchalia (e-kali-a), 225, 226; C, 1^6-162
CEdipus (edl-pus), mentioned, 90, 206,
207, 455 ; myth of, 261-264, 268 ; and
the Sphinx, 262 ; is made king, 262 ;
at Colonus, 263 ; extracts from Plmnp-
tre's translation of Sophocles' CEdi-
pus the King and CEdipus Coloneiis,
262-264 ; C. i82-i8g
CEneus (e'nus), 225, 237
(Enomaiis (en-o-ma'us), 170, 171
(Enone (e-no'ne), 310, 432 ; C. 221
CEnopion (e-no'pi-6n), father of Merope
and king of Chios. See Orion
(Ete (e'te), or CE'ta, Mount, 96, 226,
227 ; C. yd, 1^6-162
0-i'cle§, father of Amphiaratis and
grandfather of Alcmaeon
Oileus (o-i'lus), 286
Olympian religion, the, 20 ; C, 23 and
table A
01)rmpic Games, C, iy6-i8i (Textual)
0-l)rm'pus, Mount, 93, 97
O-lym'pus, home of the Greek gods of
heaven, 2, 6; located and described,
18 ; Homer's conception of, 18, 19, 42 ;
myths of greater gods of, 64-151 ; of
lesser gods of, 172-180; dynasty of,
dethroned, 181 ; C. 22
Om'pha-le, 221
0-phi'6n, C, 4, 77
5ps, 59
Oracle, at Delphi, 5, 27, 42 ; at Dodona,
19, 20; of Jupiter Ammon in the
Oasis, 20 ; of Trophonius, C. jo ; of
the dead, 51 ; of Apollo, consulted,
128, 130, 175, 315, 316,347; C,24-
Or-€hom'e-n6s, Or-ehom'e-nus, 216; C.
1^6-162
Or'cus, 83. See F/uto
O're-ads (O-re'a-deg), 46, 186, 188, 192
0-res'te§, 196, 268, 275, 315-317; C.
I go- 1(^4 (2), 228-2J0
Oriental mythology, records of, 462,
463
Origin, of the world, Greek, 3 ; of the
gods, 4, 8 ; of man, 8, 9 ; Norse, 373,
374
0-ri'6n,4i, 170; myth of, 122, 123; C.g6
Oiithyia (or-i-thi'ya), daughter of Erech-
theus, king of Athens, loved by Boreas,
38» 39 ; C, 38 (9)
Or^miizd, 463
Orpheus (or^fus), 112, 206, 230, 232,
233* 242, 359» 451 ; and Eurydice, 165-
168, 203; quotation from Landor's Or-
pheus and Eurydice, 167, 168; C.
118 ; cited, 3
Orphic hymns, 451
Or'thi-a, C. 32. See Diana
Ortygia (or-tijl-a), 120; €,32, gj
O-si'ris, 447. See F^ptian divinities (i)
Os'sa, Mount, 93, 97 ; C. 76, It is in
Thessaly. By piling Ossa on Pelion
the Titans Coeus and lapetus and the
monster Typhoeus thrice attempted
to scale Ol3rmpus, but were as often
beaten back by the lightnings of
Jove. See Virgil, Georges i. 281
Othrys (oth'ris), the mountain in Thes-
saly occupied by the Titans in their
war with Jupiter and the other Olym-
pians
Ot^ter, 400, 401
O'tus, 93
Ov'id (O-vidl-us), account of, and of his
poems, 456, 457; references to his
works, 54, 60, 65, 68, 72, 73, 79, 82,
84, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 102, no, 112,
116, 117, 120, 123, 125, 126, 139, 141,
145, 147, 150, 153, 157, 159, 160, 165,
^72, 175, 180, 188, 191, 195, 200, 202,
203, 207, 208, 215, 230, 233, 235, 237,
243, 246, 249, 25O) 269; translations,
C, 2gg; also of the Metamorphoses
in 15 books by various authors, pub-
lished by Sir Samuel Garth, in Vol
II of English Translations from An-
cient and Modem Poems, 3 vols.,
London, 18 10
Pac-tolus, 1 58 ; C. 110-112
Pa'dus, or Po, the river, 359
Pae'an, Pae'6n, Paieon (pi-e'6n), heals
Mars, 86, 290 ; C. 68
Pae^an, the chant, 26, 92 ; C, 68
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
571
Pakht (p'acht) and Bast See Egyptian
divinities (i)
Pa-lae'm6n, 202. See Melicertes
Pal-a-me'de§, 279
Paleg, 61
Pal-i-nu'rus, 352, 355 ; C, 24S-^54
Pal-la'dl-um, the, 310, 314; C, 2y
Parias, Athena, 7, 23; C ^7. See Mi-
nerva
Pallas, a Giant, 7
Pal'las, son of Evander, 365-367, 371,
372
Pan, described, 45 ; Pandean pipes, 66,
67 ; contest with Apollo, no, in;
father of Silenus, 1 52 ; P. and the
personification of nature,- 181-187;
extracts from Milton, Schiller, Mrs.
Browning, reference to Wordsworth,
181-183; E. C. Stedman's Pan in
Wall Street, 183-185 ; love of Echo,
189; in Buchanan's Naiad, 190; P.
and Pomona, 195 ; C 43, S4^ 57^ '^9-
130, 13'
Pan-ath-e-nae'a, C 27^ 176-181
Pan'da-rus, 289 ; C ig6
Pan-de'mos, C.34. See Venus
Pan-di'on, 249 ; C. 148 (4), 174
Pan-do'ra, 2; creation of, 11, 25; wife
of Epimetheus, her casket, 11; C.
lo-is
Pan'dro-sos, daughter of Cecrops. See
Herse
Pan'o-pe, 88 ; C, 70
Pan'o-pe, a Nereid, 55 ; C. /o-/^
Pa'pH-an, 128; C.34, See Venus
Pa'ph6s, 32, 126, 147, 149; C.341 100
Papyri (pa-prri), the sacred, 462
Parcae (par'se), Moerae (me're). S^eFates
Par'is (should be Pa'ris, by rule), 276,
296; the judgment of, 278, 350; P.
and Helen, 278, 279, 289, 313; and
Menelaus, 286-289; and Achilles,
308 ; and (Enone, 309, 310 ; C, igo-
ig4 (5), 795, 207, 221
Par-nas^sus, Mount, in Phocis, 26, 27,
97, 112; C.JO, j5(4), 76
Pa'r6s, 198
Par-the'ni-us, C. 2g8
Par'the-nSn, C. ^, 24-2^1 27, 38 {10), 40,
48^ 176-181
Par-then-o-pae'us, 265
Par-thenVpc, 205, 329
Par^the-n8s, the Virgin* a title of
Athene
Parvati (par^wa-te or par'va-te). See
Hindu divinities (2)
Pasiphae (pa-sifa-e), 246 ; C 172
Pa-sith'e-a. (i) A Nereid. (2) One of
the Graces
Pa-tro'clus or Pat'ro-clus, 275, 296-299,
303 ; C. igo-ig4 (4), 207
Patronymics, C, 77
Pau-sa'nI-as, 455 ; references to, 75, 125,
180, 207, 208, 241, 246, 249, 265, 268 ;
C,26
Peg'a-sus, myth of, 211,214, 215; C ^55
Peitho (pi'tho), Suadela (swa-dela),
goddess of Persuasion
Pe-la'gi-a, C.34, See Venus
Pe-las'gic division of the Greeks, 16
Pe-las'gus, son or grandson of Phoro-
neus, 17, 206, 207 ; C ^/, 57, table D
Peleus (pelus), 206, 225, 231, 237, 239,
274 ; myth of Peleus and Thetis, 269-
272, 277, 279; translation of Catul-
lus, LXIV, by C. M. Gayley, 269-272,
family of Peleus, 275, 276; C. igo-
ig4 (I), igg
Pe'lT-as, 106, 170, 230, 233; daughters
of, 235, C 83
Pe-li'de§, 272 ; C, 77
Pe'li-6n, Mount, 93, in, 271, 274; C
76. See Ossa
Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, 16, 207
Pe'lops, 99, 206, 250, 434; and Hippo-
damia, 170, 171, 275 ; genealogy, etc.,
C. 78, igo-ig4 (2)
Pe-na^teg, described, 61, 62
Pe-nelVpe, 275, 276, 279, 328,338-344;
C. igo-ig4 (3), (4), 231-244
Pe-ne'us river, in, 113, 218, 271; C.
83-86
Pen-thcs-Me'a, 307
Pentheus (pen^thus), 89, 152-156, 261;
C. iio-ii2y i82-i8g, table N
Pe-phre'do, one of the Graese
572
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Per'dix, 248
P«r-i-e're§, C, 148 (2), (5)
PSr-i-phe'teg or PSr-I-pha^'teg, 251 ; C.
iy6-i8i
Per-se'is, daughter of Perses, wife of
Helios, and mother of Pasiphae, Ari-
adne, Phaedra, and ^Eetes, C. 12^^
table H
Per-seph'o-ne, 53, 127, 327. ^^^ Proser-
pina
Perseus (per'sus), 17, 206 ; myth of, 208-
214 ; and Medusa, 208-21 1 ; and Atlas,
211; and Andromeda, 211-214, 215,
216; and Acrisius, 214; lines from
Kingsley and Milman, 212, 213; C.
Persia, 448; records of myth, 463;
studies on, C, J04
Personification, to-day, 434; among
savages, 435
Pes'sl-nus, Pesl-nus, C. 41
Pet'a-sus, the, 34
Phaeacia (fe-a'sM-a), 332-338; Lang*s
Song of, 335, 336; C. 231-244
Phae'dra, 259, 260, 328 ; C. 172 y table L ;
176-181 (lUustr.)
Phae'drus, 2
Pha'e-th6n, Pha'e-t5n, myth of, 94-98,
432 ; C. 76
Pha-e-thu'sa, 330
Phan'ta-sus, son of Somnus, C. 12^.
See Sleep
Pha'6n, 139 ; myth of, 149, 454 ; C. 107
Pha'r6s, island, 203 ; C 14^
Phar-sa'lus, a city in Thessaly; Phar-
sa^H-a, the region thereabout
Pha'sis, the river, 223 ; C. 1^6-162
Phe'rae, capital of Thessalia Pelasgi-
otis, home of Admetus
Phid'I-as, Olympian Jove of, 21; Ho-
mer's lines in Iliad, 21 ; C. 27, j8
(10), 64
Phl-le'm6n and Bau'9is, myth of, 77-
80 ; Swift's burlesque, 79, 80
Phil-oc-te'te§, 227, 309, 453 ; C. 21^220
Phil-o-me'la, 249, 250 ; C. 174
Phineus (fi'nus), 213, 231, 348 ; C. 163-
167
Phleg'e-thSn, 47, 356
Pho'bSs or Ph6b'8s, Fear, son and at-
tendant of Mars, 24
Pho'9is, 249, 315
PhGe1)e (the shining one), a name of
Diana, 138 ; C j^, g8
PhoelDe, one of the Titans, 64 ; €,4
PhoelDus, C. 28, JO. See Apollo
Phoenicians (fe-nish^ans) as dissemina-
tors of cults, 20
Phoe'nix, 274, 294
Pho'lus, 217
Phorl)as, 352
Phorcys (fdr'sis) and ^e''to, offspring
of, 57, 201
Phoroneus (fo-ro'nus), son of Inachus,
17, 207 ; C. S7y table D
Phos'phor, 40, 172, 175
Phrixus (frix'us), 229, 230; C 163-167
(Interpret.)
Phrygia (frijl-a), 77, 99, 152, 223, 448;
C63
Phtha (ftha), Ptah (p'ta). See Egyptian
divinities (i)
Phthia (thi'a), 269, 274
Phyllis (firis), an ideal maiden of pas-
toral poetry
Pi-erl-de§ : the Muses as daughters of
Pierus, king of Thessaly, or as fre-
quenters of Mount Pierus
Pi'er-us, Mount, in Thessaly, 150; C.
log
Pillars of Hercules, 219; C, 156-162
Pin'dar (Pin'da-rus), 453, 454; refer-
ences to, 51, 170, 180; translations,
C,2g8
Pin'dus, Mount, 97 ; C! 76
Pip-le'a, 223
Pi-rae'us, 253
Pi-re'ne, a fountain in Corinth, said to
have started from the ground (like
Hippocrene) under a kick of Pega-
sus, 215
Pi-rith'o-us, 237, 243, 258, 259
Pl-sis'tra-tus, 452
Pittheus (pif thus), 251 ; C. 78^ table F ;
148 (5) B, table I ; 174^ table M ; /90-
ig4 (2), table O
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
573
Pleasure, 136
Pleiads (ple'yads), Pleiades (ple'ya-deg
or ple-i^a-deg), daughters of Atlas,
57, 180; myth of, 123, 124; C, 97
Plenty, goddess of, 204
Plex-ip'pus, 238, 240
Plutarch (ploo'tark), referred to, 250, 252
Pluto (ploo'to), Al-deg, A'deg, Ha'deg,
5, 6, 20, 234, 355 ; his abode, 47-50»
353 ; attributes, 52, 53 ; the Roman
Orcus, 53, 59 ; and ^sculapius, 104 ;
carries off Proserpine, 159, 160 ; mol-
lified by Orpheus, 166 ; and Neptune,
170; helmet of, 209; and Hercules,
220 ; Theseus and Pirithoiis, 259 ; C^y
Plutus (ploo'tus), C. 4y
Poeas (pe'as), 227
Poena (pe^na). (i) Greek, an attendant,
with Di'ke and Erinys, of Nemesis.
(2) Latin, goddess of punishment
Poenae : sometimes the Furies
Poets of mythology, in Greece, 451--
455 ; in Rome, 456, 457 ; C 2g8, 2gg.
See, in general, under My thy preser-
vation of
Po-li'te§, 312
Poriux, Poly deuces (pol-?-du'se§), 206,
230, 237, 242-245, 275, 289; C. igo-
^94 (3)
Pol-y-bo'te§, C. 8
Pd'y-bus, 261, 262
Pol-y-cli'tus, Pol-y-cle'tus, 81 ; C 26^ 64
Pol-y-dec'teg, 208 ; punished by Per-
seus, 213
Pol-y-dec'teg, a name applied to Pluto,
a 47
Pol'y-dore (Pol-y-do'rus), son of Cad-
mus, 89, 261 ; C. i82-i8g, table N
PoKy-dore (Pol-y-do'rus), son of Priam,
347
Pol-y-hym'ni-a (Po-lym'nf-a), the muse
of sacred poetry, 37 ; C. 38 (4)
Pol-y-i'dus, 215
Polynesian (poH-ne'shan) savages, men-
tal development of, 44 1 ; myths among,
447» 449
Pol-y-ni'9e5, 264, 265, 266, 268 ; C. /&?-
i8g, table N
Pol-y-phe'mus, 170; and Galatea, Lang's
translation of Theocritus, Idyls VI
and XI, 198-200; P. and Ulysses,
320-323; and i^neas, 349; C /^/,
23i''244
Pol-y-phon'te, 150
Pol-y-phon'te§, 241
Pol)rxena (po-lix'e-na), 272, 276, 307,
313 ; C. ig<y-ig4 (5), 21^-220
Po-mo'na, quotation from Macaulay's
Prophecy of Capys, 61 ; and Vertum-
nus, myth of, extract from Thom-
son's Seasons, 195 ; C. S4t 139
Pon^tus, region near the Black Sea,
Ovid*s Letters from, 456
Pon^tus, a sea-god, 55, 201
Porphyrion (p6r-firl-8n), a Giant, 7
P6r-tha'6n, genealogy of, C. 148 (3),
(5), 168
P6r-tum'nus, 202. See Melicertes
Poseidon (po-si'd6n). See Neptune
Prax-it'i-leg, a Greek sculptor, Cjj',jd,
S8 (i),S4* ^00, iji
Pri'am (Pri'a-mus), 179, 225, 276; in
Trojan War, 278-307, 312, 313; C.
igo-ig4 (s), 207, 216
Pri-a'pus, a Roman god of increase,
promoter of horticulture and viticul-
ture
Prithivi (pri-te'vt). See Hindu divini-
ties (i)
Proc'ne, Prog'ne, 249, 250; C. 174
Pro'cris, 172-175; Dobson*s Death of,
174, 175; 328; C. 123-124
Pro-crus'teg, 170, 251
Prodl-cus of Chios, a contemporary of
Socrates ; author of the story of the
Choice of Hercules
Proetus (pre'tus), 214
Progress, theory of, in m)rthology, 436,
440-446
Prometheus (pro-me''thus), 2, 6, 206,
207, 269, 271, 455; a creator, 8, 10 n\
champion of man, 10; chained on
Mount Caucasus, 11, 225 ; his secret,
11,12; quotations from G. C. Lodge,
Byron, and Longfellow, 12-15; C
lo-is
574
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Propertius (pro-pSr^shl-us), 457
Pro^ser'pl-na, Pros'er-plne, Per-seph'o-
ne, 20, 43, 44, 234, 318 ; Swinburne's
Garden of Proserpine, 49, 50; attri-
butes, 53 ; the Roman Libera, 59 ; P.
and Psyche, 134, 135; the rape of,
159, 160; Shelley's Song of Proser-
pine, 160; Ceres* search for, 160-
163; quotation from G. E. Wood-
berry's Proserpine, 163, 164; mollified
by Orpheus, 166; Theseus' attempt
to abduct, 220; iEneas, 354; C. 48^
114-117
Pro-tes-I-la^us, 282. See Laodamia
Proteus (pro''tus), 56, 58 ; and Aristaeus,
202, 203 ; C. so-52 and table C ; 14s
Psamathe (sam'a-the), 103
Pseudo-Mu-sae''us, C. 104. See Musaus
Psyche (si'ke), myth of, 128-139,
457 ; extracts from William Morris*
Earthly Paradise, 131, 135; Bridges'
Eros and Psyche, 132; Pater's
Marius, 133 ; T. K. Hervey's Cupid
and Psyche, 136, 137 ; KeatS' Psyche,
137-139; C. 1 01-102
Psychopompus (si-ko-pom'pus) : Mer-
cury as guide of ghosts to the under-
world, 35,47; 0,36
Ptah (p'ta). See Egyptian divinities (i)
Purpose of this work, i
Py-a-nep'sl-a, €,30
Pygmalion (pig-ma1I-<Sn), fabled sculp-
tor, 139; and the statue, 145-147;
extracts from Lang's New Pygmalion,
145, 146, 147 ; from William Morris*
Pygmalion and the Image, 146, 147 ;
C. JOS
Pygmalion (pig-malt-6n), king of Tyre,
351
Pygmies, 221 ; C. is(>-i62
Pylades (pira-dej), 315, 316; C. 228-
230
P/16s, 150, 225, 285, 452 ; C. lOQy ijd-
162
Pyramus (pir'a-mus), 139; and Thisbe,
147-149 ; C. 106
Pyriphlegethon (plr-l-fleg'e-th6n), 327.
See Phlegethon
Pjrrrha (pir'a) and Deucalion, 16^ 207;
C. ig-20; genealogy, 148 (5)
Pyrrhus (plr^us), or Ne-op-tol'e-mus,
3i2f 313; C, igo-zg4 (i). See Neop-
ioUtnus
Pythagoras (pT-thag^o-ras), a philos-
opher of Samos, about 550 B.c ; his
doctrine of metempsychosis, 360 and
C' 235-237
Pythia (pithl-a), C. 30^32. See Diana
I^thian Games, 27 ; C. 176-181 (Tex-
tual)
P/th6n, 26, 92 ; C, 30, 74
Pythoness (pith'^o-ness), C. 30
QuI-ri'nus, 61
RS. Ste Egyptian dHnnitUs {!)
Rag'na-rSk', 394
Rakshasas (ruk^sha-sa§). See Hindu
divinities (i)
R4m4yana (nl-ma'ya-na), 462, 463;
compared with Iliad, 463 ; paraphrase
of, 0,303
R4vana (nl'va-na), 463
Re-girius, 243
Regin (ra'gfn), 400, 401
Reim-thursar (riUn^thSr-sar), Rime or
Frost giants. See Hrim4hursaf
Re'mus, 372
Rerir (ra'rer), 398
Rhadamanthus (rad-a-man'thus), 51, 53,
216, 357; son of Europa, 71, 246;
C' 255-257
Rhamnusia (ram-nG^sM-a) : Nemesis,
from Rhamnus in Attica, where she
was specially worshiped
Rhapsodists, the, 452
Rhea (re'a), 4, 5, 19, 44, 152; the
Roman Mag^a Mater, 59 ; C. ^, ^/,
iio-ii2y 146-147, See CybiU
Rhine, 404-406, 409, 410-430 /ofjiM
Rhine-daughters, in Wagner's Ring^
410,411,416,427-430
Rhine-gold, Wagner's opera of the,
410-^416
Rhodope (rod^o-pg), a mountain range
in Thrace, 97 j C, 76
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
575
Rhodope (rod'o-pg), A'c5n and, Lan-
der's poem, C. 138
Rhoecus, (relcus), myth of, 193, 194;
extracts from Lowell's Rhcecus, 193,
194 ; C 138
Rhoetus (rectus), C, 8
Ring of the Nibelung, Wagner's, 410-
430
RI'sHg, 462
River ocean, 3. See Ocean
Rock, the White, 47
Rod^mar, 400, 401
Roman divinities, 2, 3, 59-63
Rome, 365, 366, 372, 448, 456
Rom'ii-lus, 60, 372 ; as Quirinus, 61
Runes, 375, 394, 413, 457, 458 ; C.300
Russians, 448
Rut'u-li, Rutulians (roo-tooll-ans), 362,
365-370
Rymer (re'm5r), 396
Sa-bri'na, a nymph in Milton's Comus,
204
Saemund (sa'mobnd) the Wise, 459
Sa'ga§, the, 460 ; of the Volsungs, 398-
405, 460; C, 282
SaKa-mis, 308
Sa'lM, a 28
Salmoneus (sal-mo^nGs), 357
Sa'mos, 247 ; C. 34.
Sam-o-thra'9e, or Samothracia (sam-o-
thra^shl-a), an island near the coast
of Thrace, 242
Samson and Hercules, 440
Sanskrit, studies and translations, C.303
Sappho (saf o), 149, 453, 454; C. 107
SaramS. (sa-ra'ma), €,36
Sarameyas (sa-ra-ma'yas), C.36
Sarasvati (sar'as-wa-te). See Hindu di"
vinities (2)
Sar-pe''d6n, son of Jove and Europa, 71
Sar-peMdn, son of Jove and Laodamia,
in the Trojan War, 280, 290, 298
Sat'um (Sa-tui^nus), the attempts to
identify Cronus and, 59 ; his rule in
Latium, 59, 362, 366; C. 4<,S4
Sat-ur-na^-a, 59
Sa-tur'nT-a, 366
Satyrs (sSt'ers or slaters), 44, 152, 189,
190, 195, 258 ; described, 46, 186 ; ex-
tract from R. Buchanan's Satyr, 186,
187 ; C. i3i
SSvTtar. See Hindu divinities (i)
Sca-man'der, 272
Sche'ri-a, 332
Schceneus (ske^nds), 139
Sco'p&s, a Greek sculptor of Paros, first
half of the 4th century B.C. ; he made
the Niobe group ; see also C. 42^ f8,
13'
Scylla(sil^a),described, 57,255 ; and Glau-
cus, 200, 201 ; and Nisus, 201, 202 ; and
Ulysses, 329, 330; and ^neas, 350;
C. So-S^ and table C ; /^, 231-244
Scyros (si'r6s), 260, 270, 279
Scythia (sithl-a), 97, 192, 316; C. 76
Sea. See Waters
Sea-monsters, and Hesione, 170; and
Andromeda, 212. See IVaUrs^ Greek
gods of
SSb. See Egyptian divinities (i)
Se-le'ne, 29, 39, 43, 1 17 ; and Endymion,
124, 125 ; C. g8. See Diana
SemVlg, 44, 64, 89, 152; myth of, 71-
73, 261, 288 ; £. R. Sill's poem, Sem-
ele, 72, 73; C. 42,60
S€-mtr^a-mis, 147 ; €• 106
SS-mit'ic races, 448
Sem'nae. See Furies
SenVca, 457 ; references to tragedies
of, 215
Se-ra^pis, Sa-ra'pis. See Egyptian di-
vinities (i)
Serimnir (sa-r€m'n€r), 376, 388
S€-ri'phus, 208, 213; C. 14(^1^4
Ses^t5s, 142
set or Seth (sSt). See Egyptian divinu
ties {I)
Shu (shoo). See Egyptian divinities (i)
Sibyl (sibOl), 352-361 ; C. 24S-2S4
Sl-diae'us, 351
Sicily, 118, 161, 201, 247, 349» 35o> 35^
Sicyon (sishTSn), or Me-co'ne, 10 ; C,
Siegelind (sife-lind), 405 ; in Wagner's
Ring, 416-421
576
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Siegfried (seg'fred), 405-409, 420-429 ;
Wagner's opera of, 421-426; C.282-
283
Sieglinde (seflin-de), 416-421. See
Siegelind
Siegmund (seg'mund), 405, 416-421.
See Sigmund
Siggeir (sifgar), 398-400
Sigi (se'ge), 398, 405
Sig'mund, 398-401, 405; in Wagner's
Ring, 416-421
Signy (sig'ne), 398-400
Siguna (se-goo'na), 393
Sigurd (ze'goort), 400-405, 450 « ; C.
282^ 282-283, See Siegfried
Si-le'ni, 44, 186, 258 ; C. 113
Si-le'nus, 152, 157, 185, 186, 187 ; C. 113^
Sil-va'nus. See Sylvanus
Silver Age, the, 10
Sil'vi-a, 363
Si-monK-deg of Qe'os, 208, 453, 454
Sinfiotli (sin'fy6t-le), 399, 400
Si'nSn, 311, 312 ; C. 223
Si'rens, described, 57, 205, 232, 233;
and Ulysses, 328, 329 ; C. So-S^ ^^^
table C ; 231-244
SIrl-us, 123
Sis'y-phus, 214, 229; betrays Jove, 73;
marries Merope, 124; in Tartarus,
166, 200, 358 ; C, ii8y 2S5-2S7 ; gene-
alogy, J03, table G, 148 (2), (5)
Sita (se'ta), 463
Siva (se'va). See Hindu divinities (2)
Skaldic poetry, Skalds, 457, 458
Skidbladnir (skid-blad^ner), 394
Skirnir*s Journey (skir'ner), 386, 460
Skrymir (skre'mer), 380, 381
Skuld (skoold), 374
Sleep (Som'nus, Hyp'nos), 54, 298, 352 ;
cave of, 176; C. ^9, 12$
Sleipnir (slap'ner), 388-391, 401
Smintheus (smin'thus), Apollo, C. 30^
89
Smin'tM-a, C.30
Smyrna (smer'na), 452
S61 (He'lios), 61, 63
So'ma. See Hindu divinities (i)
Som^nus. See Sleep
Soph'o-cle§, 455 ; references to, 47, 215,
227, 228, 261,266, 267, 268, 368, 309,
315; translations, C. 2g8
So'phr6n, C. 42
South American savages, mental state
of, 441
Spar'ta (La9-e-dae^m6n),22, 23, 225, 242,
243, 275, 289, 314
Sphinx, 262 ; C 182-18^
Sri (sre). See Hindu divinities (2)
Stars, the, 172, 175; C, i2^y table H
Statius (sta'shi-us), references to the
Thebaid of, 141, 265; to the Silvae,
196; to the Achilleid, 269, 308; C. 2gg
Ster'o-pe, one. of the Pleiads
Ster'o-peg, C. 4
Ste-sich'o-rus, 313, 453
Stheneboea (sthen-e-be'a), or Stheno-
boea, daughter of lobates, enamored
of Bellerophon
Sthen'e-lus, no
Sthe'no, daughter of Phorcys and
Ceto ; one of the Gorgons
Stro'phl-us, 315
Stry'm6n, 168; C. 118
Sturlason, Snorri (sn6r're stoorHa-sun),
connection with the Prose Edda, 459;
C. 268-281
Stym-pha^li-an birds, 218; and lake,
C. 136-162
Styx (stix), 47, 71, 94, 151, 189, 274,
308, 327 ; a 44-46y 49
Suadela (swa-de'la). See Peitho
Sun, cattle of the, 328, 330. Sec Helios
and Sol
Sun-myth^432, 435
Surter (soor'ter), 395
Survival, theory of myth, 442
Surya (soor'ya) . See Hindu divinities ( I )
Svadilfari (swa-dil-fa're), 378, 379
Swanhild (sw6n^hnd), 405
Syl'vans, 186
Syl-va'nus, 61, 195
Sym-pleg'a-deg, 231 ; C. i63~i6y (In-
terpret.)
Syr'inx and Pan, 66, 67 ; C. 43^ S7
Syrtis (ser'tis), 255
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
577
Taenarus (ten''a-rus), or Taenarum, 51,
166; C. 118
Ta'gus, 97
Ta'lus, 242, 243 ; C. lyo-iyi
Tan'a-is river, 97 \ C. y6
Tan'ta-lus, 77, 99, 166, 275, 358; C 78
and table I j 118^ ^SS-^sy
Tar'€h6n, 367
Tam'helm, 414, 415, 423, 427, 428
Tam'kap-pe, 406
Tarpeian (tar-pe'yan) Rock, 366
Tar'ta-rus, 5, 6, 7, 51, 97, 159, 357;
name of Pluto, 53 ; C 44-46
Tau'rT, Tau'ri-ans, a people of what is
now the Crimea; Iphigenia among
the Taurians, 281, 316; C, ig6
Tau'rus, Mount, 96, 253 ; C '/6
Tera-m6n, 75, 222, 225, 237, 239, 276,
280; C. igo-jg4 (i)
Te-lem'a-€hus, 279, 314, 328, 339-345 »
C. igo-jg4 (4), 231-244
Tere-phus, son of Hercules and Au'ge ;
wounded by Achilles, but cured by
the rust of the spear
Terius, 59, 233. See Gaa
Tem'pe, a vale in Thessaly, through
which ran the river Peneiis, 1 1 1, 270 ;
C. 38 (4)
Ten'e-d6s, 113; C. 8g
Tereus (te'rus), 249
Ter'ml-nus, 61
Ter-pan'der, C. 26
Terp-sich'o-re, the muse of choral dance
and song, 37 ; C. 38 (4)
Ter'ra. See Earth and Gisa
Tethys (te'this), 4, 22, 55, 67, 204 ; C. 4
Teucer (tu'ser), son of the river-god
Scamander and the nymph Idaea;
first king of Troy ; C. igo-ig4 (5)
Teucer (tu'ser), son of Telamon and
Hesione, 276; C. igo-ig4 (i), (5),
207
Teucri (tu'cri) : the Trojans
Tha-las'sl-8s : an epithet applied to Hy-
men because he brought safely over
the sea to their home a shipload of
kidnaped Athenian maidens
Th4-li'a, one of the Graces, 36
Tha-li'a, the muse of comedy, 37
Tham'y-ris, or Tham'y-ras, 451
Than'a-t5s, Mors. See Death
Thar-ge'll-a, C. 30
Thau^mas, father of the Harpies and of
Iris, 57 ; C S^-S^y ^^le C
The%4; C. 4
The-ag'e-neg of Rhegium (re'ji-um),
439
The'ba-is, an epic by Statius on the
Seven against Thebes ; Pope's trans-
lation, C. 2gg. See Statius
Thebes (thebg), The1)ae, in Bceotia, 71,
75, 207, 216; founded, 87, 89, C. yo;
Bacchus at, 153-155 ; misfortunes of,
261, 262, 265-268 ; C. 110-112
Thebes (thebj), ThelDae, in Egypt, 20
Thebes (theb§), the Seven against, 206,
264, 265-268, 453, 455
The'mis, 4 ; attributes of, 38 ; C 4, 18
The-oc'ri-tus, 215, 243,455; selections
from translations by Lang of various
idyls, 198-200, 222, 223; Lityerses
song, 224 ; C. 2g8. See Andrew Lang
and Calverley^ in Index of Modern
Authors
Ther-san'der, 268
Ther-si'te§, 286, 307
Theseus (the'sus), 17, 168, 206, 220,
231, 235, 237, 239, 243, 246, 263, 275 ;
myth of, 250-260; early adventures,
251, 252 ; and Ariadne, 252 et seq.,
270; translation of Catullus, LXIV,
by C. M. Gayley, 253-257 ; later ad-
ventures, 258-260; C. iy4^ 176-181
Thes-mo-pho'ri-a, C. 114-117
Thes'pl-ae, lion of, 216; C. 1^6-162
Thes'sa-ly, 6, lO/i, no, 175, 192, 193,
206, 207, 214, 229, 231, 258, 269
Thes'ti-us, 275; C, 148 (3), (5), 168
Thes^ty-lis, a maid in the pastorals of
Theocritus and Virgil
The'tis, the Nereid, 55, 90, 198, 205,
269-272, 277, 279, 285, 299, 300, 304,
308 ; C. lO-iSi 50-52^ table C, zgo-
194 (I)
Thialfi (thft-al'fe), 380, 383, 385
Thi2l)e, 147-149 ; C. J06
578
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Th8k, 392
Th6r, 376, 432, 460; deeds of, 378-
386, 393-396; recovery of his ham-
mer, 379, 380; visit to Jotunheim,
380-386; as Donner in Wagner's
Ring, 412, 415 ; (7. 268-281
Thoth (th6th or tot). See Egyptian di-
vinities (2)
Thrace, 24, 218, 231, 249, 347
Three Daughters of King O'Hara;
analogy of incident, C. 101-102^ 118,
149-154
Thrinacia (thri-na'shi-a), 328, 330. See
Trinacria
Thrym (thriim), 379, 380
Thucydides (thvi-sidl-deg), C. 6z
Thy-es'teg, 275, 314; C, igo-ig^ (2)
Thy-i'a-de§, C 42, See Bacchus
Thy-o'ne, C. 34.
Thyrsis (ther^sis), an ideal shepherd. of
Greek pastoral poetry. See Theocri-
tus ^ Idyl I ; Virgii, Bucolics 7; and
M. Amold*s elegy
Thyrsus (ther'sus), the, 45, 153, 156;
C 110-112
TilDer, 362, 365
Timber, Father, the river-god, 62, 365
Ti-buHus, 457 ; reference to, 200
Time, 3
Tiresias (ti-re'shl-as or ti-re'sWs), 266,
268, 327, 328, 330, 451 ; C. i82-i8gy
231-244
Tiryns (ti'rins), a city in Argolis, where
Hercules was brought up
Ti-siph'o-ne, 54, 357
Ti'tans, 4, S, 7 ; war of, 5, 6 ; in Tar-
tarus, 5I) 357 ; in the Fortunate Isles,
52; <^-^
Ti-tho'nus, and Aurora, 177, 179 ; Tenny-
son's poem, 177-179; family connec-
tions, 276, 280 ; C. i26-i2'7y igo-ig4
(5)
Tit'y-rus, an ideal goatherd of Greek
and Latin pastorals. See Theocritus^
Idyl 3y and Virgil^ Bucolics i
Tit'y-us, slain by Apollo, 27, 92, 357 ;
C,74
Tmo'lus, Mount, 96, 1 10, 1 1 1 ; C. f6
To'ml, 456
Toxeus (tox'us), 238, 240
Tra'chis, 175
Tragic poets of Greece, 455
Trident, Neptune's, 56, 170
Tri-na'cri-a, Thri-na'cri-a, Thrinacia
(thri-na'sM-a) : the island of Sicily,
having three promontories
Trip-tore-mus, 161 ; and the Eleusinian
mysteries, 164, 165
Tris'tJ-a, Ovid's, 456
Trit-o-ge-ne'a, Tri-to'nI-a : an epithet of
Minerva (Athene), meaning bom near
Lake Tritonis, or headbom, or bom
on the third day
Tri'tSn, 56, 58, 204, 350
Tri'tons, the, 70
Trivl-a, Hecate, or Diana of the Cross-
ways, 54
Troezen (tre'zen), a city in Argolis.
251 ; C, 176-18 I
Trol-lus, son of Priam, killed by Achil-
les, 276 ; C igo-ig4 (5), ig6
Trojan War, mentioned, 75, 84, 86, 98,
179, 206, 237, 2S9. 265, 45i»4S2» 455;
houses concerned in, 269-276 ; origin,
277-279; narrative of, 279-306; fall
of Troy, 307-312; survivors of the
war, 313-317
Tro-pho'nI-us, oracle of, C.30
Tros, son of Erichthonius of Troy, and
grandson of Dardanus, C. igo^zg4
(S)
Troy, 23, no, 169, 170, 177, 206, 225;
royal family of, 276, C 190-194 (5);
the war at, 277-313 koA passim; C
iig-i20y igSi 228-230
Tu^bal, 440
Tubal-Cain (ta^bal-canO, 440
Tur'nus, 362-364, 367-372
Twelve Brothers, story of the; analogy
of incident, C 101^102
Twilight of the Gods, Wagner's open
of the, 426-430
Ty-a'ne-an, 79 ; C, 63
T/che. See Fortuna
Tydeus (ti'dfis), 84, 265, 280; C. /^
table K
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
579
Tydides (tJ-drdeg), C. 77. See Dio-
mede
Tyndareus (tin-da're-us), or Tyndarus
(tin'da-rus), 242, 269, 338; family of»
275, C. igO'ig4 (3)
Tyndaridae (tin-darl-d6), Castor and
Pollux, 243 ; C 76
Tyndaris (tin'da-ris): patronjrmic of a
female descendant of Tyndareus;
Helen or Clytemnestra ; C. 77
Typhoeus (ti-fo'us), youngest son of
Gsea, later identified with Typhon
T/phon, 6, 7, 350; also called the
son of Typhoeus and a hurricane;
as
Tyr (t€r), or Ziu, 377, 378, 396
Tynan dye, 82, 1 1 1 ; C. 75"
Tyrian flowers, 94, 137
Tynans, of Cadmu^, 88 ; of Dido, 351
T/ro, 170
Tyrrheus (tii^us), 363
Ulysses (ii-lis''e§), wanderings of, men-
tioned, 168, 206, 265; descent of,
275, C, igo-ig4 (4) ; in Trojan War,
278-314; and Penelope, 279, 338-
344 ; arms of Achilles, 308 ; U. and
Philoctetes, 309 ; the Palladium, the
Wooden Horse, 310, 314; Telema-
chus, 314, 339-345; wanderings of
U. (Odyssey), 318-345; the Lotos-
eaters, 318, 319; Tennyson's Lotos-
eaters, 319, 320; the Cyclopes, 320-
3^3> 349; .^olus and the bag of
winds, 323 ; the Laestrygonians, 324 ;
the isle of iEsea, Circe, 324-3275
Dobson's Prayer of the Swine to
Circe, 325, 326; visit to Hades, 327,
328; the Sirens, 328, 329; Scylla
and Charybdis, 329, 330; cattle of
the Sun, 330 ; Calypso, 331 ; the
Phaeacians, 332-337 ; Lang's Song
of Phaeacia, 335, 336; Nausicaa, 332
et seq,; return to Ithaca, 337; fate
of the suitors, 338-344; Tennyson's
triysses, 344, 345 ; C. 231-244
Underworld (Hades), described, 47-52;
the garden of Proserpine, 49, 50;
Greek divinities of, 47, 52-54 ; rivers
of, 47 ; inhabitants of, and communi-
cation with them, 51 ; judges of, 51,
53, 71, 246; myths of greater gods,
159-168; Hercules' visit, 220; Ulys-
ses* visit, 327, 328; iEneas' visit,
353-361 ; C, 44-4^f 47i 49' For the
Norse Underworld, see ff^l
U-ra'nl-a, the muse of astronomy, 37,
C. 38 (4) ; also the Aphrodite of
ideal love, C. 34, See M. Amold^s
Urania
U''ra-nus, Ouranos (6o''ra-n8s), father
of Cronus, 4, 5, 6 ; C 4. See Heaven
Urd (oord), 374
Ushas (oo^shas). See Hindu divinities
(I)
Utgard-Loki (oot'gard-lo'ke), 382-386
Vach. See Hindu divinities (i) and (2)
V'ala, C jog
Va-le'rif-us. Flac'cus, reference to, 269;
Val-haHa, n^-yjd, 378, 387-390, 394,
414-419, 426-430
Valkyrias (vSl-kIr^ya§), Valkyrs (vSK-
kerg), or Valkyries. See Valkyries
Valkyrie (vSl-ktrlf), Wagner's opera of
the, 416-421
Valkyries (vSl-Mr^g), Valkyrs (vSl'-
kerg), or Valkyrias, 376, 388, 393,
402, 415, 418, 420, 421, 432
Vaimiki (val-me'ke), 463
Varuna (vSr'oo-na). See Hindu divini-
ties (I)
Vayu (va'yoo). See Hindu divinities
(I)
Ve (va), 373, 374
Vedas (va'dag), the, 462
Vedic (va'dik) religion. See Hindu di»
vinities (i)
Ven-Sr-all-a, €,34
Ve'nus (Aphrodite), daughter of Dione,
19; wife of Vulcan, 26; foam-bom,
31; attributes, 31-34; her various
influence, 31, 32 ; favorite animals
and cities, 32; artistic conceptions
of, 32 ; £. R. Sill's poem. The Venus
58o
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
of Milo, 32-34; attendants of, 35,
36 ; star of, 40 ; among the Romans,
59 » Cypris, 68, 69, and adloc. ; mother
of Harmonia, 71, 89; myths of, 125-
150; love for Mars, and Anchises,
125, 280; Adonis, 126-128; Lang's
translation of Bion's Lament for
Adonis, 126-128; Cupid and Psyche,
128-139; Atalantaand Hippomenes,
139-141 ; Hero and Leander, 141-
145 ; Pygmalion and Galatea, 145-
147 ; Pyramus and Thisbe, 147-149 ;
Phaon, 149; her vengeance, 150;
Pluto and Proserpine, 1 59 ; Paris,
278, 279 ; in Trojan War, 284, 289,
295, 313 ; iEneas, 346, 352, 354, 372;
as a moon-goddess, 432 ; C, S4y 35*
100-106
Verdandi (ver-dan'de), 374
Vergelmir (ver-germer), 373
Ver-tum'nus, 61, 195; C. 139
Ves'per, 138
Ves'ta (Hestia), 5, 19, 35, 59; C.37
Vestal Virgins, 35
Victoria (Ni'ke), 41
Vidar (ve'dar), 376, 395, 396
Vigrid (veg'red), 395
Vili (ve'le), 373, 374
VIn'g51f, 374
Vir^gil (Ver-gilTus), account of, and of
the iEneid, 456 ; references to Geor-
gics, 141, 202; to iEneid, 47, 51,
246, 308, 310-312, 349-3S3» 367* 370;
to Bucolics, 223 ; outline of iEneid,
346-372 ; Tennyson's poem to Virgil,
346 ; the iEneid, C. 24^-260 ; trans-
lations, 2gg
Vishnu (vish'noo). See Hindu divini-
ties (2)
Vitharr (ve'tiiar). See Vidar
Void, 4
Volscens (v5rsen5), 369, 370
Volsung (vSl'sdong), Volsungs, the
saga of, 398-405, 460; in the Ring
of the Nibelung, 416, 418-430; C.
282
Volsunga Saga (vSl-soon^ga sa'ga). See
Vrif ra. See Hindu divinities (1)
VuKcan (Vul-ca'nus, Hephaestus), one of
the great gods, 19 ; meaning of name,
24; attributes, 24-26; his lameness,
25> 90; his wife, 26, 61 ; among the
Romans, Mulciber, 59; Harmonia's
necklace made by, 89, 265; myths
of, 90, 91 ; chariot of the Sun made
^y» 95 > ^' 2ind Orion, 122; Talus,
242; father of Periphetes, 251 ; Ari-
adne, 253 ; armor of Achilles, 300 ;
of iEneas, 372 ; interpretations of,
434, 440 \ C.2g
Vyisa (vya'sa), 463
Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, 410-
430
Walse (val'se), 416, 418
Walsungs (val'sdongg), 416. See Vol-
sung
Waltraute (vartrou-te), 427, 428
Water-Njrmphs, 46, 58, 189, 211
Waters, Greek gods of, 55-58; older
dynasty, 55; younger dynasty, 55,
56 ; lesser divinities, 56-58 ; Words-
worth's ***Bhe world is too much
with us," 58 ; myths of Neptune, 169-
171 ; of lesser divinities, 198-205; C.
141
Winds, the, Greek names and attributes
of, 38, 39; myths of, 172, 179; C.38
(9), i2^f table H
Wo'dan, Wo'tan, Wo'den, 375, 412-430.
See Odin
Woman, origin of, Greek, 11
Wooden Horse, the, 310-312, 337
World, conception of, among the
Greeks, 42, 43
Worid Qgg, 3
Worms, 407, 409
Wo'tan. See Wodan
Xanten (zan^'ten), 405, 406
Xanthus (zan'thus) river, 91, 97; C. 7/,
76
Xuthus (zu'thus), son of Hellen, 16;
genealogy, C. ios% tabic G ; 132 (2),
(5). i7d
INDEX OF MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS
581
Yam'a and Yami (yam'e). See Hindu
divinities (i)
Yggdrasil pg'dra-sil), 374
Ymir (u'mer or e'mer), 373, 374, 394
Yssel-land (fsfeX), 406
Zan'te, 153
Zeph'y-nis, 38, 39, 270; and Hyacinthus,
94; Zephyr and Psyche, 129-132;
Ze'teg, 39, 230
Ze'thus, 75; C. 62
Zeus (zus). S^e Jupiter
Zeuxis (zux'is), a Greek painter of
Heraclea ; flourished about 424 B.C.
Zfu or Tyr (ter). See Tyr
Zodiac, C. 1^6-162 (Interpret.)
Zo-ro-as'ter, 463
Zulus, myths among, 448
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS
AND ARTISTS
[Ordinary figures refer to pages of the Text. Figures in italics preceded by C.
refer to sections of the Commentary and incidentally to the corresponding sections
in the Text. For explanation of the diacritical marks see p. 543.]
Acland, H. W. C. 228-230^ Plains of New Philomela, 250; from Empedo-
Troy
Addison, Joseph, 1672-17 19. C. 2^^-
2^y, Spectator, No. 343 ; ^99, transl.
Metamorphoses
Akenside (a'ken-sid), Mark, 1721-1770.
C.j8 (4), (9), 128, i2g-i3o. Pleasures
of Imagination; C.38 (4), (11), Ode
on Lyric Poetry, Ode to Hesper;
^9, Ode to Sleep
Albani (al-ba'ne), Francesco, 1 578-1660
(paint). C.j6, Mercury and Apollo ;
9/, Diana and her N3rmphs, Actseon
(two pictures, Dresden) ; 7^7, Galatea
and Cupids
Aldrich, T. B., 1836-1907. C. i<ps, Pil-
lared Arch and Sculptured Tower
Alfieri (al-fya're), Vittorio, 1 749-1803.
C, idgy Merope
Anderson, R. B. C. 268-281^ Norse
Mythology ; Horn's Scandinavian
Literature ; Younger Edda
Armstrong, John, 1 709-1 779. €.30,^0-
^2, 68, /4^ij4, The Art of Preserv-
ing Health
Armstrong, W. J. C. 228-230, Over
Ilium and Ida
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 183 2- 1904. Refer-
ence to, 1 26 ; C. 303, Indian Idylls,
Light of Asia ; 32, Hymn of the Priest-
ess of Diana; /04, transl. Musaeus;
igd, Iphigenia
Arnold, M., 1 82 2- 1 888. Quotation from
Thyrsis, 224, 225; from Dejaneira,
138; his Merope, 242; from The
cles on Etna, 274 ; from Balder Dead,
388-397 ; C, 8, 87, Empedocles ; 38
(3), (4), Euphrosyne, Urania ; 42, Bac-
chanalia; S^^S^t The New Sirens;
1^6-162, Fragment of a Dejaneira,
Merope, Th)rrsis; 77^, The New
Philomela; i82-i8g, Fragment of an
Antigone ; 231-244, The Strayed
Reveller ; 268-281, Balder Dead.
Ashe, Thomas, 1836-1889. C. 38 (i).
The Lost Eros
Bacon, Lord, 1 561-1626. Wisdom of
the Ancients ; his method of explain-
ing Greek Myths, 439, C. 114-11';
Baldwin, James. C. 282, The Story of
Siegfried, New York, 1888
Bandinelli (ban-de-neHe), B., 1487-1 559
(sculpt). C. 1^6-162, Hercules and
Cacus
Banks, J. Transl. Hesiod, Callimachus,
and Theognis (Bohn*s Library)
Bamfield, Richard, 1 574-1627. C. 174,
Song, " As it fell upon a day" (Philo-
mela)
Bartsch (bartsh), K. F. Der Nibelunge
N6t, 461 n ; C, 283
Bates, H. (paint). C. 101-102, Psyche
Baumeister (bou'mi-ster). Denkmaler
d. klassischen Altertums ; see List
of Illustrations
Beattie (bS'tit), James, 1 735-1 803. C.
1^6-162, Battle of Pygmies and
Cranes ; /^, Judgment of Paris
#2
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 583
Beaumont (bo'mSnt), Francis, 1584-
1616, and John Fletcher, 1 579-1625.
C J<y (I), Cupid's Revenge; S^S^^
iy6-i8ii Maid's Tragedy
Beddoes (bed'oz), Thomas Lovell, 1803-
1849. C /Of, Pygmalion; 114-117^
. Stygian Naiades
Benfey (ben'fi) and Cosquin (co-kSn').
Cited by Lang, 447 n
Bennett, W. C, 1820 . C. los, Pyg-
malion
Bernini (ber-ne'ne), Lorenzo, 1598-
1680 (sculpt). C. 48, 114-117, Pluto
and Proserpine; Sg, Apollo and
Daphne
Beyschlag (brshlach), J. R., 1838
(paint.). C. 101-102, Psyche ; //<?,
Orpheus and Eurydice
•Birch, R. €.302, Guide to Egyptian
Rooms
Blackie, J. S., 1 809-1895. C. 141, Gala-
tea; 176-181, Ariadne, The Naming
of Athens ; 795, Judgment of Paris ;
igd, 2g8, transl. i^schylus
Blake, William, 1757-1827. To the
Muses, iii
Bland and Merivale. C. 2g8, transl.
Greek Anthology
Bodenhausen (bo'den-hou'zen), C. von
(paint.). C. 104, Hero and Leander
Bodmer, J. J. Referred to, 461 ; publ.
Nibelungenlied, C. 283
Bologna (b6-16n'ya), Giovanni di, 1 524-
1608 (sculpt). C j6. Flying Mercury;
1^6-162, Hercules and Centaur
Bordone (b6r-d6'na), Paris, 1 500-1 571
(paint). C <?7, Apollo, Marsyas, and
Midas
Bouguereau (boo-ge-ro'), A. W., 1825-
1905 (paint). C. sSi Birth of Venus ;
j8 (i), Cupid and a Butterfly; 42,
Youth of Bacchus ; 7j7, Nymphs and
Satyr
Bowring, E. A. C. 22, transl. Schil-
ler; j8 (2), Goethe's Ganymede; do,
Schiller's Semele; 140, Schiller's
Cranes of Ibycus ; 733', Schiller's
Pegasus in Harness
Brandi (bnlnMe), Giacinto, 1 623-1 691
(paint). C. 173, Daedalus fastening
Wings on Icarus (Dresden)
Bridges, Robert, 1844 Extract
from Eros and Psyche, 132 ; C 70-75',
Prometheus; 42, Feast of Bacchus;
707, Eros and Psyche ; 799, Achilles in
Scyros ; 231-244, Return of Ulysses
Brooks, C. T., 1813-1883. C. 207,
Schiller's Parting of Hector and
Andromache
Browning, E. B., 1806-1861. Reference
to, 126; extract from The Dead Pan,
183; C. lO-iSt Prometheus Bound;
101-102, Psyche ; 7j7, Flush, or
Faunus ; 7^7, transl. Theocritus ; 776-
181, paraphrases of Nonnus and
Hesiod ; 207, paraphrase of Homer
Browning, R., 18 12-1889. Passage from
his Balaustion's Adventure, 107-110 ;
C 81, Apollo and the Fates ; 83, 1^6-
162, Balaustion's Adventure ; 118,
Eurydice and Orpheus ; 12^-130, Pan
and Luna; 1^6-162, Aristophanes'
Apology; 17&-181, Artemis Prolo-
gizes; igd, Agamemnon; 2^^-2^7,
Ixion
Bryant, Jacob. Advocate of theological
interpretation, 440
Bryant, W. C, 1 794-1878. C. i4g-
1^4, transl. Simonides' Lament of
Danae ; C. 231-244, transl. Odyssey
(18.71)
Buchanan, R., 1841-1901. Cited or
quoted : from his Satyr, 186, 187 ;
from his Naiad, 1 89-191 ; C. 4, Cloud-
land ; 47, Ades, King of Hell ; ^o-S^i
Naiad; g8, Selene, the Moon; 705',
Pygmalion the Sculptor ; 107, Sappho
on the Leucadian Rock; 77<?, Or-
pheus; i2g-i3o. Pan; 7^7, Poly-
pheme's Passion ; 14^, Proteus ; 231-
244, Cloudland, Penelope; 268-281,
Balder the Beautiful
Buckley, T. A. C. 2g8, transl. iEschy-
lus and Euripides
Bugge (boog'e), Sophus. C 268-281,
edition of Elder Edda
584
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Bulfinch, S. G., 1809-1870. Extract
from his translation of Schiller's Ideal
and Life, 227, 228
Bulfinch, Thomas, 1 796-1867. The Age
of Fable ; see Preface to this volimie
Burges (ber'jcs), G. C. 2g8i transl.
Greek Anthology
Bume-Jones, Sir Edward, 1833-1898
(paint). His Thisbe, 148; C.j«?(i),
Cupid; 101-102, Pan and Psyche;
/oj, Pygmalion; 106, Cupid, Pyra-
mus, Thisbe ; //<?, Orpheus and Euryd-
ice; 7J7, Nymphs; 140-1^4, Perseus
and the Graiae ; 799, Feast of Peleus ;
231-244, The Wine of Circe
Bums, R., 1 7 59- 1 796. C JO, The Win-
ter Night ; 7/5, To John Taylor
Butcher, S. H., and A. Lang. C, 231-
244, 2g8i transl. Odyssey
Butler, Samuel, 161 2-1 680. C j^, Hu-
dibras
Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 1788-
1824. Quoted or referred to, 452;
Prometheus, 13 ; Age of Bronze, 15;
Childe Harold, 311; C. lo-iSt Pro-
metheus, Ode to Napoleon ; j^, 70,
Don Juan; 104, 228-230, Bride of
Abydos ; 27, 30, 34, 33, J«? (4), ^/,
S4y 7<^» 97y 228-230, 231-244, refer-
ences to Childe Harold
Call, W. M. W., 1817-1890. C. 81, Ad-
metus; 83, Alcestis; iy6-i8i, Ari-
adne ; 268-281, Balder, Thor
Calverley, C. S. (Blayds), 1831-1884.
C. TOO, Death of Adonis; 110-112,
141, 1^6-162, lyo-i'jii 2g8, transl.
Theocritus ; 2gg, transl. Horace
Campbell, Lewis, 1 830-1 908. C. 2g8,
transl. Sophocles
Campbell, Thomas, 1777-1844. C. 38
(11), Two Songs to the Evening
Star ; 163-167, transl. of part of Eu-
ripides' Medea
Canova (ca-nd'va), Antonio, 1757-1822
(sculpt). C. 3^, Venus Victrix; 38
(3), Graces; 101-102, Cupid and
Psyche; 14^-1^4^ Perseus; 77J, Daed-
alus and Icarus ; 176-181, Theseus ;
79/, Paris ; 204, Ajax ; 207, Hector
Carlisle, Lord, 1802-1864. C. 231-244,
Diary, note on Corfu and the Phaea-
cians
Carlyle, Thomas, 1795-1881. Transl. of
fragments of Nibelungenlied, 409;
a 283
Carracci (car-rat'che), Annibale, 1560-
1609 (paint). C. 24-2Si Jupiter and
Juno
Carracci (car-rat'che), Lodovico, 1555-
1619, and Annibale (paint). C. g8,
Diana and End)rmion ; 7-^7, Polyphe-
mus, Galatea, Acis
Cellini (chel-le'ne), Benvenuto, 1500-
157 1 (sculpt). C ^^--^z, Jupiter ; 27,
Minerva; 3^, Venus; 36, Mercury:
i4g-i£4, Perseus, Perseus saving An-
dromeda
5er-van'te§, Miguel de, 1 547-1616. Ref-
erence to, 14 ; C. 16
Chapman, G., 1 559-1634. C. 231-244,
2g8, transl. Iliad and Odyssey; 104,
Marlowe's Hero and Leander; Son-
net on Chapman's Homer, see Keats
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 1340 (or 1328)- 1400.
References in C. : The Former Age,
lo-js; The Knight's Tale, 34, g^,
176-18 I ; The Hous of Fame, 38(2),
(9)» 7Sy nSy 17^181, igg, 24S-2S4:
The Legende of Good Women, 83,
106, i4g-iS4y i(>3-^^7y ^74* 176-181,
24^-2^4; The Complaint of Mars,
34i 83; The Complaint of Venus,
34; The Dethe of Blaunche, 12^,
igg, 226 ; The Court of Love (?), 34,
83; The Cuckow and Nightingale,
or Boke of Cupid (?), 38 (i); The
Romaunt of the Rose (?), 132-133;
Troilus and Criseyde, 79^, 226
Church, F. S. C. lo-is^ Pandora
Clapp, E. B. Greek Morality, etc., 455 n
Clarke, J. F. C. 303, 304, Ten Great
Religions
Cleasby and Vigfusson (vig^foo-sun).
Icelandic-English Dictionary, 45B n ;
0,300
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 585
Clough, A. H., 1819-1861. C. gSi Ac-
taeon ; g8j Epi Latmo, Selene
Coleridge, Hartley, 1 796-1 849. C.io-i^,
Prometheus ; 79/, Sonnet on Homer
Coleridge, S. T., 177 2-1 834. C. gj,
Kubla Khan
Collins, Mortimer, 1827-187 6. C. ^9,
The Ivory Gate
Collins, William, 1721-1759. C. /j/,
132-133^ The Passions
Collins, W. L. C. 2g8f ^99, Ancient
Classics for English Readers
Colvin, S., 1845 • C 40, A Greek
H)rmn
Conington, J., 1825-1869. C. -^99, transl.
iEneid, Horace's Odes, etc.
Correggio (c6r-red'jo), A. A., 1494-1534
(paint). C. 32^ Diana; 3:7, Jupiter
and lo ; 62^ Antiope ; 14^-1^4.^ Danae
Cottle, A. S. C 268-28iy Icelandic
Poetry
Cowper, William, 1 731-1800. Transl.
Homer, 18, 299, 331, 340, 341 ; C. 30,
Yardley Oak; 44-46, 231-244, 233-
257i Progress of Error ; 131-132, On
an Ugly Fellow ; 143, The Task ; 2g8,
transl. Homer
Cox, the Rev. Sir G. W., 437 «, 448 n ;
C' 57^ 59y 7o, 7^-73* 74^ 7^» 7<?» 9/*
101-102, jog, 118, 141, 136-162, iy2
Crabbe, George, 1754-1832. C. j<?(4).
Village, Parish Register, Newspaper,
Birth of Flattery (Invocations of the
Muse) ; 204, Village
Crane, Oliver. C, 2gg, transl. iEneid
Creuzer (croi'tser). Professor, and the
allegorical interpretation, 439
Curtin, Jeremiah. C 118, 140-134,
Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland
Curzon (ciir-zdn'), A. de (paint). C. loi-
102, Psyche
Dale, Thos. C 2g8, transl. Sophocles
Daniel, Samuel, 1 562-1619. C. 231-
244, Dialogue of Ulysses and the
Siren ,
Dannecker (dan'ek-6r), J. H. von, 1758-
184 1 (sculpt). C, 176^181 1 Ariadne
Dante (dan'te) Alighieri, 1 265-1321
Reference to, 14; C. 16
Darwin, Erasmus, 1 731-1802. Extract
from his Botanic Garden, 180, 247
Da'sent, Sir G. W., 1820-1896. C. 268-
281, Popular Tales from the Norse
David (da-ved'), J.L., 1748-1825 (paint).
C. 795, Paris and Helen
Dekker, Thomas, 1 570-1641. C. 30,
The Sun*s Dariing
Derby, the Earl of. Transl. Homer,
21', C. 2(p8
Dippold, G. T. C 301, Great Epics of
Mediaeval Germany
Dixon, R.W., 1833-1901. C. 30, Apollo
Pythius
Dobell (do-bel'), Sydney, 1824-1874. C.
268-281, Balder
Dobson, Austin, 1840 Procris, 174,
175; extract from Prayer of the
Swine to Circe, 325, 326; C 123-
124, Procris ; 141, Polypheme
Domenichino (d6-ma-ni-ke'n6), Z.,
1581-1641 (paint). C. 32, Diana's
Chase; 243-234, Cumaean Sibyl
Dosso Dossi (dds^'so d6s^se) (Giovanni
di Lutero), 1479-1542 (paint). C. g8,
Diana and Endymion (Dresden)
Dowden, E., 1843 • ^- 39i Eu-
ropa; 118, Eurydice; 14^-134, An-
dromeda
Doyle, Sir Francis Hastings, 18 10-
1888. C. i82-i8g, transl. CEdipus
Tyrannus
Drayton, Michael, 1 563-1631. C. 30,
Song 8 (on Apollo) ; 38 (2), Gany-
mede
Drummond, William, of Hawthomden,
1 585-1649. C.30, Song to Phoebus;
38 (2), Ganymede ; 30-32, ^ Nymphs,
sister nymphs," etc. ; 100, Statue of
Adonis ; 128, Summons to Love ; 7^9-
134, Statue of Medusa
Dryden, J., 1631-1700. Extract from
Alexander's Feast, 45 ; C. 2g8, transl.
Metamorphoses and the iEneis ; 4g,
Alexander's Feast; 34, Epistle to
Congreve ; 83^6, Chaucer's Wife of
586
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Bath's Tale ; 131, To Mrs. Anne Kil-
ligrew; 796, Cymon and Iphigenia;
2^3-2^7% St. Cecilia's Day
Dyer, John, I70o(?)-i758. Extracts from
The Fleece, 230, 231, 314
Dyer, Louis, 185 1 . Studies of the
Gods in Greece, 446 n
Edwards, Miss A. B. C. 302, A Thou-
sand Miles up the Nile
Eliot, George (Mary Ann Cross), 1819-
1880. C. 2<p8y Arion
Elliot, Lady Charlotte. C. 14.^-134.^ Me-
dusa, 1878
Ellis, Robinson. C. 2ggj transl. Catullus
Ely, Talfourd. Olympus, 446 n
Emerson, R. W., 1803-1882. C. i8j
Astraea ; 182-18^^ The Sphinx
Fawcett, Edgar, 1 847-1904. C. 231-244^
Calypso
Fawkes, Francis, 1 721-1777. C. loy^
transl. Sappho
F^nelon(fa-n'-16n'),Fran9oisdelaMothe,
1651-1715. C. 231-244^ TeMmaque
Field, Michael. Callirrhoe, 1884
Fields, A. C. gi, Clytia
Fiske, John, 1842-1901. Citation from
Myths and Myth-Makers, 432
FitzGerald, Edward, 1 809- 1 883. C. 182-
i8g, The Downfall and Death of
King CEdipus ; 796, Agamemnon
Fitzgerald, M. P. C. 176-181, The
Crowned Hippolytus
Flaxman, John, 1 755-1826. C. 799, 204,
207, 231-244, Sketches
Fletcher, John, 1 579-1625 (see Beau-
mont). C.38 ( I ), A Wife for a Month ;
42, " God Lyaeus " (from Valentinian) ;
38, " Hear ye ladies " (Valentinian) ;
50-S2, 176-181, The Maid's Tragedy ;
9<?, The Faithful Shepherdess ; 7^9-
130, Song of Priest of Pan ; Song to
Pan (Faithful Shepherdess) ; 176-18 1,
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Forestier, Auber (pseudonym for Annie
A. Moore). C. 283, Echoes from
Mist Land
Forster, F. C 123-124, Procris and
Cephalus
Foster- Barham, A. G. C. 283 ^ transL
Nibelungenlied
Franceschini (fran-ches-ke'^ne), M. A.,
1648-1729 (paint). C. 100, Birth of
Adonis (Dresden)
Francklin, Thomas. C 2g8, triansl.
Sophocles
Frere (frer), J. Hookham, 1 769-1 846.
C. 14^-134, transl. Simonides' La-
ment of Danae ; 136-162, transl. Eu-
ripides* Hercules Furens
Frothingham, N. L. C. 114-117, transl.
Schiller's Festival of Eleusis; 224,}
transl. Lessing's Laocoon
Fuller, S. Margaret, 1810-1850. C, 3^
(2), Ganymede to his Eagle.
Garnett, Richard, 1835-1906. C.37, lo
in Egypt ; 79^, Iphigenia in Delphi
Garrick, David, 171 7-1779. C. 63-66,
Upon a Lady's Embroidery
Gay, John, 1 685-1 732. C. 141, Poly-
pheme's Song ( Acis and Galatea)
Gayley, C. M. Extracts from transla-
tion of Schiller's Gods of Greece,
182; from hexameter translation of
Catullus' Peleus and Thetis, 253-258,
269-273
Gerard (zha-rar'), Fran9ois, 1770-1837
(paint.). C 101-102, Cupid and
Psyche
Giordano (j6r-da'n5), Luca, 1 632-1 705
(paint.). C. 14^134^ Perseus and
Phineus; 136-1629 Hercules and
Omphale; 176-181, Bacchantes and
Ariadne (Dresden)
Giorgione (j6r-j6'na) (Giorgio Barba-
relli), 1477-1 51 1 (paint.). C. 131,
Nymphs and Satyr; ig3. The Judg-
ment of Paris (Dresden)
Gladstone, W. £., 1809-1898. Transla-
tion from Iliad, 285. Works referred
to or cited, 440 n ; his theory of myths,
440 ; C 23, on the nun^er of the
Olympians, and on the Olympian re-
ligion; 77, on the Chryseis incident
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 587
Gleyre (gl6r), Charles G., 1807-1874
(paint). C. 42, Dance of the Bac-
chantes; 1/6-162, Hercules at the
feet of Omphale
Goethe (ge'te), J. W. von, 1749-1832.
C. ig6, Iphigenia in Tauris ; see also
under Bowring and Martin
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1 728-1 774. C, 132-
^33i on a beautiful youth struck by
blindness (Narcissus)
Gosse, E. W., 1849 • Quoted : Eros,
36; from the Sons of Cydippe, 8i ;
from the Praise of Dionysus, 156,
1 57 ; C, 22, Greece and England ; 32,
The Praise of Artemis ^ 64, Sons of
Cydippe; 7/<9, The Waking of Euryd-
ice ; 12^, Alcyone (a sonnet in dia-
logue) ; 1^6-162, Gifts of the Muses ;
2SS-257t Island of the Blest
Gray, Thomas, 171 6-1 771. The Fatal
Sisters referred to, 376 ; C, 4, 36, 38
(4), 40j Progfress of Poesy; 14^-1^4,
H)rmn to Adversity; 268-281, Ode
on the Descent of Odin, Ode on the
Fatal Sisters
Greene, Robert, 1 560-1 592. C, ^6, Ar-
raignment of Paris
Greenwell, Dora, 1 821-1882. C. 114-
7/7, Demeter and Cora ; 282, Battle-
Flag of Sigurd
Grimm, Jakob Ludwig, 1 785-1863, and
Wilhelm Karl, 1786-1859. Theory
of distribution of myth, 448 ; deriva-
tion of word Edda, 458 » ; C. loi-
102, The Twelve Brothers; 301,
Deutsche Mythologie
Guercino (gwSr-che'no), Francesco,
1 590- 1 666 (paint.). C. g8. Sleeping
Endymion ; 100, Three Pictures of
Adonis (Dresden) ; 123-124, Aurora
Gu^rin (ga-ran'), Pierre Narcisse, 1774-
1833 (paint). C. 123-124, L'Aurore
et C^phale ; 24^-2^4, iEneas at the
Court of Dido
Hahn (han), Werner. Modem German
edition of Nibelungenlied, 407, 460 n,
461 n ; C, 283
Hake, Thomas Gordon, 1 809-1895. C.
34, The Birth of Venus ; 14^-1^4, The
Infant Medusa
Hallam, Arthur Henry, 181I-1833. C,
loSt Pygmalion
Hamon (a-m6n'), J. L., 1821-1874
(paint). C. 123-124, Aurora
Haug (houch), M. 6*. 304, Sacred Lan-
guage and Literature of the Parsis
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1 804-1 864. C.
^4, 131, The Marble Faun
Head, Guy, d. 1801 (paint). €,38 (12),
Iris
Hem^an§, Felicia D., 1793- 183 5. ^- <??»
Alfieri*s Alcestis, Death Song of Al-
cestis; gy, Pleiads; iy6-i8i. Shade
of Theseus
Herrick, R., 1591-1674. C.38 (i). The
Cheat of Cupid, or The Ungentle
Guest
Hervey, Thomas Kibble, 1 799-1859.
Poem on Cupid and Psyche, 136, 137
Hoffmann (h6f'man), J. (paint). C. 283,
Illustrations of the Ring of the Nibe-
lungen
Holmes, O. W., 1809-1894. C. g8, 231-
244, Metrical Essays
Hood, Thomas, 1 798-1845. C. 30, To
the Sun; 32, To the Moon; gi.
Flowers; 104, Hero and Leander;
Ji4-iiy, Ode to Melancholy; 231-
244, Lycus the Centaur
Horn, F. W. Geschichte d. Literatur
d. Skandinavischen Nordens, 458 »,
460 n
Home, Richard Henry (Hengist), 1803-
1884. C. lO-iS't Prometheus, the Fire-
bringer ; g6, Orion
Hiibner (hiip^ner), E., 1842 (paint).
C. ig6, Iphigenia
Hunt, Leigh, 1784-18 59. C. 104, Hero
and Leander
Ingelow, Jean, 1820-1897. C. 48, Per-
sephone
Ingres (an'gr*), J. A. D., 1 780-1867
(paint). C. i82-i8g, CEdipus and the
Sphinx
588
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1831-1885. C
40y Demeter; 176-181^ Ariadne's
Farewell
Jameson, Frederick. Translation of
Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung,4i i-
430 ; C. 284-288
Jebb, R. C, 1841-1905. C. 228-230,
articles on Troy
Johnson, Biorn, of Scardsa, 1575-1656.
On the Elder Edda, 459
Johnson, Francis, d. 1876. C. 304, Ori-
ental Religions
Johnson, Samuel, 1 709-1 784. Defini-
tion of Fable, i
Johnsson (y6ns'sun), Amgrim, 1568-
1648. On the authorship of the
Younger Edda, 459
Johnston, T. C. Did the Phoenicians
discover America ? 449 n
Jones, Sir William, 1746-1794. C joj,
transl. Sakuntala
Jonson, B., 1 574-1637. Hymn to Cyn-
thia, 31 ; C. 4y Neptune's Triumph;
12^-130, Pan's Anniversary; 42,
Dedication of th^ King's new cellar
to Bacchus
Jonsson (y6ns'sun), Thorleif. C. 268-
28iy edition of the Younger Edda
Jordaens (y6r'dans), Jakob, 1 593-1678
(paint.). C. 110-112, Silenus and Bac-
chante ; 176-181 1 Ariadne, Fauns, etc.
(Dresden)
Jordan (y6r'dan), W. C, 283, Studies
and Recitations of the Nibelunge
Kaulbach (kourbach), W., 1805-1874
(paint). C. igby Iphigenia
Keats, John, 1795-1821. Quotation from
" I stood tiptoe upon a little hill," 67 ;
from Endymion, Bk. 3, 125, 200, 201 ;
Ode to Psyche, 137-139; Picture of
Leander, 145 ; Sonnet on Chapman's
Homer, 283 ; C. 4,S4^ Hyperion ; jo.
Hymn to Apollo ; 32, 13 1, To Psyche ;
38 (4), On a Grecian Urn; 42, /31,
'S5i To a Nightingale; 48, Melan-
choly ; 7/, 9J, 9<?, 142, 231-244, En-
d/mion ; log. Ode to Maia
Keller, F., 1842 (paint). (7. 104,
Hero and Leander
King, Ed. C, 2gg, transl. Metamor-
phoses
Kingsley, Charles, 1819-1875. Extract
from the Andromeda, 212; C. loy,
Sappho; 282, Longbeard's Saga
Knight, Payne, 17 50-1 824. Symbolical
Language of Ancient Art, 444 n
Kray (kri), W. (paint). C. 101-102,
Psyche and Zephyr
Kiirenberg, von (f6n kU'ren-bcrc), and
the Nibelungenlied, 461
Kyd (kid), Thomas, end of the sixteenth
century. C. 47, di, Spanish Tragedy
Lachmann (lach^man), K. K., 1793-
1851. Theory of Nibelungenlied, 461;
C. 283, Nibelunge N6t
La Fontaine (la f6n-ten'), Jean de, 1621-
1695. Mentioned, 2
Landor, W. S., 1775-1864. Quotations
from the Niobe, 102, 103 ; Hippom-
enes and Atalanta, 140, 141 ; from
Orpheus and Eurydice (Dry Sticks),
167, 168 ; C. 26, Hymn of Terpander
to Juno ; 42, Sophron's Hymn to Bac-
chus ; S^>-5^t 17^^81, To Joseph Ab-
lett ; 3*9, Europa and her Mother ; 76,
123-124, Gebir ; 78, Niobe ; 83, Her-
cules, Pluto, Alcestis, etc. ; 707, Sap-
pho, Alcseus, etc. ; 110-112, Last
Fruit of an Old Tree ; J13, Silenus ;
128, Sonnet on Genius ; 12^-130,
Pan and Pitys, Cupid and Pan ; 137,
Dryope ; 138, The Hamadryad, Aeon
and Rhodope; lyo-iyi, Loss of
Memory ; jy6-i8j, Theseus and Hip-
pol)rta; 795, Menelaus and Helen;
igd, Iphigenia and Agamemnon;
799, Peleus and Thetis ; 21^-220, The
Espousals of Polyxena; 221, Cory-
thos. Death of Paris and CEnone; 228-
230, Death of Clytemnestra ; 231-
244, The Last of Ulysses, Penelope
Lang, Andrew, 1844 . Quotation
from The Fortunate Isles, 52 ; from
The New Pygmalion, 145, 146, 147;
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 589
Sonnet on the Odyssey, 318 ; A Song
of Phaeacia, 335, 336; transL from
Moschus, 68-70, 189; transls. from
Iliad (w. Leaf and Myers), and
from Odyssey (w. Butcher), see be-
low; from Bion, 126-128; from
Theocritus, 198-200, 222, 223, 224;
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, and arti-
cle on Mythology in Encyc. Brit,
cited or referred to : Preface, 438 »,
440 ftj 441 fty 447 Hj 448, 449, and 6*.
S^SOi 3^* 5^y ^o, 61 J 74j 8gy 110-112,
ji4-iiy. Transls. of Theocritus,
Bion, and Moschus referred to: 6*.
38 (i), 110-112, 1^6-1 62y igSt 2g8.
Poems referred to : C 32, To Arte-
mis ; S^>~5^'> Sirens ; 795, 221, Helen
of Troy ; 795, Sonnet on Iliad
Lang, Andrew (Leaf and Myers). Transl.
Iliad, 84-87, 104, 291, 292 ; C 2g8
Lang, Andrew (Butcher and). Transl.
Odyssey, 35, 327, 328 ; C. 23i-244,2g8
Lamed, Augusta. C. 268-281, Tales
from the Norse Grandmother
Lathrop, G. P., 1851-1898. C, 795*,
Helen at the Loom
Lawton, W. C. C, 163-167, transl.
Euripides
Lazarus, Emma, 1 849-1 887. C. 81, Ad-
metus
Lee-Hamilton, E., 1845 • ^' <^7»
Apollo and Marsyas; 14^-1^4, The
New Medusa
Lefebvre (le-fev'r'), Jules (paint). C,
32, Diana and her Nymphs
Leighton, Frederick, Lord, 1830-1896
(paint). C. 48, The Garden of Pros-
erpine ; 83, Hercules wrestling with
Death for the Body of Alcestis ; 707-
J02y The Bath of Psyche ; 114-ii'j,
The Return of Proserpine ; 77<?, Or-
pheus and Eurydice ; 140-1^4, Per-
seus and Andromeda; 79/, Helen
of Troy
Lessing, Gotthold E., 17 29-1 781. C,
6g, 224, Laocoon
Lettsom, W. N., The Fall of the Nibe-
lungers, 407-409 ; C. 283
Linton, William James, 181 2-1897. C.
ij8, Eurydice; 796, Iphigenia at
Aulis
Lo'beck, Chr. A., 1 781-1860. Aglao-
phamus, 442 n ; C. 114-iiy
Lodge, G. C, 1873-1909. Herakles,
12 ; C. lo-iSi 1^6-162
Lodge, Thomas, 1 558-1625. C, 38 {2),
Sonnet to Phyllis
Longfellow, H. W., 1807-1882. Quoted
or referred to: Prometheus, 13-15;
Drinking Song, 153; C. lo-i^,
Masque of Pandora, Prometheus, and
Epimetheus; 96, 2^^-2^y, Occulta-
tion of Orion; g8, Endymion; 733*,
Pegasus in Pound; 2^^-2^y, Verses
to a Child ; 268-281, Tegner*s Drapa,
Saga of King Olaf
Lonsdale, J., and Lee, S. C, 2gg, transl.
Virgil
Lorrain (l6-ran'), Claude (GeMe), 1600-
1682 (paint). C. 36, Mercury and
Battus; 59, Europa; 7^7, Evening,
Acis, and Galatea
Lowell, J. R., i8i9-ri89i. Quotations
from The Shepherd of King Adme-
tus, 105, 106; from Fable for Critics
(Daphne), 114; from Rhoecus, 193,
194; C. lo-i^, ^8, Prometheus; 36,
Finding of the Lyre ; 38 (2), (6),
Hebe, Villa Franca; 44-46, to the
Past; J'i>-J'2, The Sirens; g8, En-
dymion; 118, Eurydice
Ludlow, J. M. C. 301, Popular Epics
of the Middle Ages
Lu'ning. Die Edda, 458 n
Lydgate, John, i37o(?)-i45i(?). C.ig6,
The Troy Book
Lyly (liH), John, 1 553-1606. €.38(1),
Cupid and Campaspe ; 8g, 113, King
Midas ; g8, Endymion ; 707, Sappho
and Phao
L)rtton, Edward G. E. L. Bulwer, Lord,
1803-1873. C. 38 (2), Ganymede;
64, Cydippe, or the Apples ; 226,
transl. Schiller's Cassandra; -^f/-
2^7, Death and Sisyphus ; 2gg, transl,
Horace
590
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Mabie, H. W. C. 268-281^ Norse
Stories
Macaulay, T. B., 1800-18 59. Quotation
from Prophecy of Capys, 61 ; from
Lake Regillus, 243-245
Maffei (maf-fa'e), F. S. di, 1675-1755.
C. i6g, Merope
Magnt!isson(mag'noos-s6n),Ame. Deri-
vation of word Edda, 459 »
MagmSsson (mag'noos-s6n), Eirikr (and
William Morris). Story of the Vol-
sungs and Nibelungs, 460 n ; C.
282
Mannhardt(man'Tiart),W. AntikeWald-
und Feldkulte, 440 n ; C. 100
Marchal, C. F., 1 828-1 878. C. 231-244,
Penelope
Marlowe, Christopher, 1 564-1 593. Ex-
tract from Hero and Leander, 142-
144; from Faustus, 287, 288; C. 24^-
2S4i Tragedy of Dido, Queen of
Carthage
Marston, J., 1575 (?)-i634. C. los^ Pyg-
malion
Martin, Sir Theodore, 1816-1898. Cj6,
Goethe's Phoebus and Hermes; 38
(i), i6j-i6yy iy6-i8i, igg,2gg, transl.
Catullus ; ^99, transl. Horace
Marvell, Andrew, 1 621- 1678. C. g8,
Lord Fauconberg, Lady Mary Crom-
well
Maxwell. C. 4g, Tom May's Death
Mengs (menks), Anton Raphael, 1728-
1779 (paint). C.j.?(i),Cupid;j<9(4),
Apollo and Muses
Meredith, George, 1828- 1909. C. 76,
Phaeton ; 114-iiy, The Appeasement
of Demeter
Merivale, J. H., 1 779-1844 (and R.
Bland). C. 2g8, transl. Greek An-
thology
Mi-chel-an'g^lo Buonarroti, 147 5-1 564
(sculpt and paint). Three Fates,
38; Cumaean Sibyl, 353; C. jo,
Apollo; j<9 (6), The Fates; 42,
Drunken Bacchus ; ^9, A Fury ; loOt
Dying Adonis ; /j/, Mask of a Satyr ;
^4J-2J4, Sibyls
Mickle, William Julius, 1735-1788. C,
106, transl. of Camoens' Lusiad
Millais (mf-ir). Sir John Everett, 1S29-
1896 (paint.). C. ijg, Pomona
Millet (me-lc'), Jean Fran90is, 1814-
1875 (paint). C, 30^ Phoebus and
Boreas
Milman, Henry Hart, 1791-1868. Lines
from the Samor, 213; C. ^6, Samor;
iio-ii2f Bacchanals of Euripides;
796, Agamemnon of iEschylus ; 2g8,
transl. Euripides
Milton, John, 1 608-1 674. Reference
to, 14. Quoted: lines from II Pen-
seroso, 211, 451 ; from the Hymn on
the Nativity, 181 ; from Comus, 40,
204, 205, 213, 314; from Paradise
Lost, 226 ; C, 16, 4-2J7 passim, ref-
erences to Paradise Lost, Paradise
Regained, Lycidas, Comus, II Pense-
roso, L' Allegro, Sonnets, Arcades,
Vacation Excursion, Hymn on the
Nativity, Samson Agonistes
Mogk, E. Article MythologU in Paul's
Grundriss d. Germ. Philol, 446 n,
460 n
Molinari (mo-l4-na're), Antonio, 1665-
1727 (paint ) . C J 01-102, Psyche and
Sleeping Cupid (Dresden)
Moore, Thomas, 1779-1852. Quoted:
Song of Hyperborean, 43; Clytie,
117; C.38 (2), Fall of Hebe; y8.
Sir R. Blackmore; 80, Lycus the
Centaur; g^; 101-102, Cupid and
Psyche"; 103, Rhjrmes on the Road ;
104, Hero and Leander; 106, The
Sylph's Ball; 123-124, Legendary
Ballads; 1S6-162, Hylas; 304, The
Fire-Worshipers
Morley, H., 1822-1894. C. 300, extract
(on Runes) from English Writers
Morris, Sir Lewis, 1833-1907. The Epic
of Hades, C. 22, 24-2S (Zeus), 26
(Her^), 2y (Athene), 30 (Apollo), 32
(Artemis), 34 (Aphrodite), 4y, 4g
(Hades), 48 (Persephone), 61 (Sisy-
phus), 7-?, //«? (Tantalus), ^7 (Marsyas),
gS (Actaeon), g8 (Endymion), moo
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 591
(Adonis), 1 01-102 (Psyche), 118 (Or-
pheus, Eurydice), 132-133 (Narcis-
sus), i4g-i^4 (Medusa, Andromeda),
1^^162 (Dejaneira), iy6-i8j {Vhse^
dra), 22^ CLsiOcoon), 228-230 {Clytem-
nestra) ; 7<?, Niobe on Sipylus
Morris, WiUiam, 1 834-1 896. Extracts
from The Earthly Paradise, Story of
Cupid and Psyche, 131, 135; Pyg-
malion and the Image, 146, 147 ;
Doom of King Acrisius, 209, 210;
Life and Death of Jason, 232, 233;
Sigurd the Volsung, 398-404; C.
So-S'^1 ^^8, 163-167, Life and Death
of Jason ; 64, Earthly Paradise ; 83,
The Love of Alcestis ; 103, Atalanta's
Race ; 14^1^4, The Doom of Acris-
ius; 753', Bellerophon; /f^/^-?. The
Golden Apples ; 221, Death of Paris ;
231-244, transl. Odyssey; 268-281,
The Funeral of Balder; 282, Sigurd
the Volsung ; 2gg, transl. the iEneids
Morris, William, and E. Magnusson
(mag'noos-sdn). The Story of the
Volsungs and Nibelungs, 460 »; C
282
Morshead, E. A. A. C. ig6, 2g8, transl.
iEschylus
Motherwell, W., 1797-183 5. C. 282,
Battle-Flag of Sigurd; Jarl Egill
Skallagrim; Sword Chant of Thor-
stein
Muir (mur), J. C, 303, Sanskrit Texts ;
Principal Deities of the Rig^Veda
Miiller (miU'er), F. Max, 1823-1900.
Cited, 434, 437, 438, 448 n ; Oxford
Essays, etc., referred to, 446 n ; Pre-
face and C.303, Sacred Books of the
East, History Sanskrit Literature,
Science of Religion, Chips from a
German Workshop, etc.; C. 1(^20,
24-23, 27, 36, 57, 38, 78, 8 J, 8g, icfg,
118, 126-127, 14^134, 133, references
to works in general
MuUer (mUrSr), H. D. C sg, theory
about Demeter
Mu^jay, A. S. Manual of Mythology,
referred to, Preface and 150
Myers, E., 1844-
-. C. 10-13, Judg-
ment of Prometheus ; ig3. Sonnet on
the Iliad; 2g8 (w. Lang and Leaf),
transl. Iliad ; transl. Odes of Pindar
Myller, C. H. C. 283, edition of Nibe-
lungenlied
Neaves, Charles, Lord, 1800-1876. C.
2g8, transl. Greek Anthology
Neide (ni'de), E., 1842 (paint.). C.
101-102, Charon and Psyche
No'el, Hon. Roden, 1834 . C 38
(2), Ganymede ; 42, Triumph of Bac-
chus ; 12^-130, Pan (in the Modem
Faust) ; 268-281, Ragnarok (Modem
Faust)
Occleve, Thomas, 1 370-1 454. C J^(i),
The Letter of Cupid
Olafsson (o'lafs-sun), Magnus, 1574-
1636. Edition of Snorri's Edda, 459
Paley, F. A., 1816-1888. C. 2g8, transl.
Pindar's Odes
Palgrave, F. T., 1824-1897. C. 83, Al-
cestis
Palmer, G. H., 1842 . C. 231-244,
2g8, transL Odyssey
Parmigiano (par-me-ja'no) (Francesco
Mazzuoli), 1 504-1 540 (paint.). C. 38
(2), The Rape of Gan)rmede (Dres-
den)
Pamell, Thomas, 1679-17 18. C. 10-13,
Hesiod, or the Rise of Woman ; 42,
Bacchus
Pater, Walter H., 1839-1894. Extract
from Marius the Epicurean, 133 ; the
story of Cupid and Psyche, 157, 457
n ; C. 40, Myth of Demeter ; 1 01-102,
2gg, Marius the Epicurean
Patmore, Coventry, 1823-1896. C. 38
(i). The Unknown Eros
Paul (poul), Hermann. Grundriss d.
Germ. Philol., referred to, 446 », 460 «
Paupion (p6-pl-6n'), E. J. (paint). C
106, Thisbe
Peacock, Thomas Love, 178 5-1 866. C
110-112, Vengeance of Bacchus
592
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Peele, George, 1558-1598. C. S4> '95^
Arraignment of Paris
Petiscus, A. H. The Gods of Olympus,
446 n
Phillips, Ambrose, 1 671-1749. C. 107,
transl. Sappho ; ijg, Cider
Phillips, Stephen, 1868 . Extract
from Marpessa, 115, 116; from Ulys-
ses, 338 ; C. 231-244^ Ulysses
Pisano (p^za'no), Andrea, 1 270-1349
(paint). C. 77J, Daedalus and Icarus
Pix'is, Th., 1831 (paint). C. 283,
Illustrations of the Ring of the Nibe-
lungen
Plump'tre, E. H., 1821-1891. Transl.
Sophocles, 262-264, 267, 268 ; C 756-
i62y i82-i8g, igdf 204^ 2ig-220j 228-
230y 2g8, transl. iEschylus and Sopho-
cles
Pope, Alexander, 1 688-1 744. Transl.
Homer, 286-288, 292, 293, 306, C.
231-244^ 2g8 ; transl. Statins* The-
baid, 2gg ; references to Dunciad, the
Messiah, Rape of the Lock, Wind-
sor Forest, Essay on Criticism, Pro-
logue to Satires, l^pring. Summer,
Moral Essays, Miscellaneous, <?, /<?,
22,30, 34,38 (I), 40, 44-4^y 49* 50-
S2, S4y 57* ^S-^^y 78> 97* ^00, 107,
113, 118, I2S, i2g-i3o, 131, iss^ 1^6-
162, 163-167, 172, 231-244, 2SS-2S7,
260
Potter, R., 1721-1804. C. 2g8, transl.
iEschylus and Euripides
Poussin (poo-san'), Nicolas, 1 594-1665
(paint). C. J4, The Kingdom of
Flora; 57, Pan and Syrinx (Dres-
den) ; 132-133, Narcissus
Poynter, Sir E. J., 1836 (paint).
C. 103, Atalanta's Race. Note also his
Andromeda, Perseus, and Androm-
eda and Helen
Praed (prad), Winthrop Mackworth,
1 802-1 839. C. 226, Cassandra
Preller (prgl'er), L., 1809-1861. Grie-
chische Mythologie, cited or referred
to, Preface and 4 n, 6 n, 446 n ; C.
8, 2y, 30, 32, 34, J7, ^g, 60, 61, 70,
72-73* 7^* 95* ^os, 110-112, 114-117,
123-124, J26-127, i4g-i^4, 172
Preston, Margaret J., 1825-1897. C. g3.
Flight of Arethusa; 12^, Alcyone;
j68. The Quenched Branch
Prior, Matthew, 1 664-1 721. €.^0-^2,
On taking of Namur; 76, Female
Phaeton
Procter, Bryan Waller, 1 787-1 874. C.
4, Fall of Saturn ; ig-20. The Flood
of Thessaly; 32, The Worship of
Dian; 110-112, Bacchanalian Song;
114-117, Rape of Proserpine; 141,
Death of Acis; 176-181, On the
Statue of Theseus
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 1552-1618. Cita-
tion from History of the World, 440
Randolph, Thomas, 160 5-1 634. C 42,
S4, To Master Anthony Stafford
Raphael (rafa-21) (Sanzio, of Urbino),
1 483-1 520 (paint). C. 28, Mars; 30,
Apollo ; 32, Luna ; 36, Mercury ; 38,
Cupids, Six Hours of Day and Night ;
87, Marsyas; j 01-102, Cupid and
Psyche; 141, Triumph of Galatea;
igS, Sketch of Homer ; 24^-2^4, Vir-
gil, Dido
Read, T B., 1822-1872. C. g8, En-
dymion
Reed, E. A. C.303, Hindu Literature
Regnault (rS-nyo'), J. B., 17 54-1 829
(paint). C. 38 (3), The Graces.
Note also his Education of Achilles,
Pygmalion and Venus, Death of
Priam, and Orestes and Iphigenia
Reinach (ri'nach), Salomon, 1858 .
C. 78, Apollo
Rembrandt (r2m'T)r&nt) van Ryn, 1606-
1669 (paint). C.38 (2), Ganymede
carried off by Jove's Eagle (Dresden)
Reni, Guido (gwe'do ra'ne) 1 575-1642
(paint). C.38 (I), Cupid; 103, Ata-
lanta's Race ; 123^124^ Aurora
Rhys (res), John. Article in the Acad-
emy, 458 »
Richardson, F. €,303, Iliad of the
East
INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 593
Richardson, L. J. C. 64, Biton and
Cleobis
Riviere (re-vy6r^), Briton, 1840
(paint.). C. 231-244^ Circe and the
Companions of Ulysses. Note also
his Argus and Actseon
Robinson, A. Mary F. (Madame James
Darmesteter), 1857 . C.jo, A
Search for Apollo, In Apollo's Gar-
den; iy6-i8ii The Crowned Hip-
polytus
Rogers, Randolph, 182 5-1 892 (sculpt).
C. gy. The Lost Pleiad
Rogers, Robert Cameron, 1862 ,
Poems : C 44^ Charon ; 3:^, The Danc-
ing Faun; 141 ^ Blind Polyphemus;
^59, Hylas ;• 231-244^ Odysseus at the
Mast, the Death of Argus
Rogers, Samuel, 1763-1855. Cj<?(3),
Inscription for a Temple dedicated
to the Graces ; 1^6-162, On the Torso
of Hercules
Rohde (ro'de), E. Psyche, 446 n
Romano (ro-ma'no), Giulio Pippi, 1492-
1546 (paint). Cj^ (4), Muses; ^^9-
7JO, Pan and the Young Olympos
(Dresden)
Roscher (r6sh'er),W. H. Ausfiihrliches
Lexikon d. griech. u. rom. Mytholo-
gie, referred to or cited, 7 », 75 », 93 «,
437 n ; see Preface, and C, 26, 2*/^ 28,
^9» 30, 32, 34y J^» 59^ ^00, log, 142,
148, i49-^S4y '55^ 163-16^
Kbss, R. S. C. 126-1819 Ariadne in
Naxos, London, 1882
Rossetti (rd-set'l), D. G., 1828-1882.
C, 4^ Mnemosyne ; /o-zf, Pandora ;
32, Diana; 34, 3s, Venus Victrix,
Venus Verticordia; 48, Proserpina;
Jo-S^i A Sea-Spell, The Siren; 104,
Hero's Lamp ; 140-1^4, Aspecta Me-
dusa ; i82-i8gy The Sphinx (a paint-
ing); ^9Si Helen; 226^ Cassandra
(drawing and poem) ; 231-244, Penel-
ope, The Wine of Circe (for paint-
ing by £. Bume-Jones)
Roy, Protap Chundra. C. 303, transl.
Mah&bh&rata
Rubens (roo'Tjenz), Peter Paul, 1577-
1640 (paint). 6*. 32, Diana and her
Nymphs ; 131, Satyrs ; 140-1^4, Per-
seus and Andromeda ; 1^6-162, Her-
cules intoxicated ; 168, Meleager and
Atalanta (Dresden) ; 795, Judgment
of Paris
Ruskin, J., 18 19-1900. The Queen of
the Air, 435, 444, 445 ; C, 27
Saemund (sa'moond) the Wise, 1055-
1133. His connection with the Elder
Edda, 459
Sandys (sSndz), George, 1 577-1644. C,
2gg, transl. Metamorphoses
Saxe, J. G., 1816-1887. C. 38 (i).
Death and Cupid ; yd. Phaeton ; 113,
Choice of King Midas ; 118, Orpheus ;
173, Icarus; 231-244, The Spell of
Circe
Scheffer (sh^fer), Ary, 1795-1858
(paint). C 38 (2), Hebe
Schiavoni (skya-vo'ne), N., 1777-1858
(paint). C. 38 (2), Hebe
Schiller (shil'er), J. C. F. von, 1759-
1805. Extract from his Gods of
Greece, transl. by C. M. Gayley, 182;
from Ideal and Life, transl. by S. G.
Bulfinch, 227, 228. See under Botv-
ring, Lytton, S, G. Bulfinch, Frothing-
hcLtn, Btvoks
Schliemann (shle'man), H., 1822-1890.
C, 228-230, Troy and its Remains,
Ilios, Troja
Schnorr von Carolsfeld (shn6r f6n ka'-
r6ls-felt), Julius, 1794-1872. C, 283,
The Nibelungen Frescoes
Schobelt (sho^belt). P., 1838
(paint). C. 48, 114-iiy, Rape of
Proserpine
Schiitzenberger '(shiitz'en-ber'ger), L.
F., 1825 (paint). C7. 38 (4),
Terpsichore
Scott, Sir Walter, 1771-1832. C, 24^-
2^4, Marmion (Palinurus)
Scott, William Bell, 1811-1890. C. 118,
Eurydice ; i82-i8g, The Sphinx ;
igd, Iphigenia at Aulis
594
THE CLASSIC MYTHS
Seifert (zi'fert), A. (paint.). C. 228-230^
Electra
Sell&r, W. Y., 1825-1890. Augustan
Poets, 446 n
Shakespeare, William, 1 564-1 61 6. Ex-
tract from Macbeth, 236; C. 4-2^^
passim^ references to works in general
Shelley, P. B., 1 792-1822. Quotations
from Hymn of Apollo, 28, 29 ; Hymn
of Pan, III, 112; Arethusa, 1 18-1 20 ;
Song of Proserpine, 160; Lines on
the Medusa of Leonardo Da Vinci,
210; C, lo-is, 38 (2), 57, log, Pro-
metheus Unbound ; jo, Homer's
Hymn to Apollo, Adonais; j6, log.
Homer's Hymn to Mercury; 42,
SO-s^t Ode to Liberty; 44-46, To
Naples ; 4g, To Night ; 57, To the
Moon ; 9J, Arethusa ; 9/, Adonais ;
//<?, Orpheus ; 141, Cyclops of Eurip-
ides; /^.^-/^9, Swellfoot the Tyrant
Sichel (zic'el), N., 1844 (paint).
Reference to, C. la-is
Sidney, Sir P., 1 554-1 586. C. 30, ij6-
162, Astrophel and Stella
Sill, E. R., 1841-1887. Quoted: Venus
of Milo, 32-34; Semele, 72, 73
Sime (sIm), James. Nibelungenlied (in
Encyc. Brit.}, 461 n
Smart, Chr., 17 22-1 771. C. 2gg, transl.
Horace
Solimena (so-le-ma'na), Francesco,
1 657-1 747 (paint,). C. J 21, Rape of
Hippodamia ; 176-181, Battle of
Centaurs and Lapithae
Southey, R., 1 774-1843. C. ij8, Thai-
aba
Spenser, Edmund, 1 552-1 599. Quoted:
Verses on the Graces, 36, 37 ; from
the Muiopotmos, 83 ; Faerie Queene,
454; referred to: Epithalamion, C.
30, 3^* 34^ 3^ (2), 4^^ 9^y 126-127,
i4<^iS4\ Prothalamion,^,j.?,j^,50-
^2, 132-133, 170-17 1 ; Tears of the
Muses, 38 (4); Faerie Queene, 30,
32, 38 (8), 40, 42, 48, 4g, 30-52* S4*
76, g6, ij8, 123-124, 12^127, iss,
136-162^ 170^171
Stanyhurst, R., d. 161 8. C. 2gg, transl
iEneid, 1-4
Stapylton, Sir R., d. 1669. C. 104,
transl. Musaeus
Stedman, E. C, 1833-1908. Pan in Wall
Street, quoted, 183-185 ; C. 22, News
from Olympia ; 231-244, Penelope
Stephens, George, 185 1 . C. 300^
Old Runic Monuments
Stoddard, R. H., 1825-1903. C. 34,
Arcadian Hymn to Flora; 114-117^
The Search for Persephone
Story, W. W., 1819-1895. C. 32, Ar-
temis ; 59, Europa ; gi, Clytie ; 23J-
237, Tantalus
Sturlason, Snorri (snor're stoor'la-sun),
1 1 79-1 241. Connection with the
Prose Edda, 459 ; C. 268-281
Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of, 1517-
1547. C, 106, Death of Sir T. Wyatt
Sveinsson (svins'sun), Bp. Bryniolf,
1605-167 5. His connection with the
Elder Edda, 459
Swanwick (swSn'ik), Anna, 1813-1899.
C. ig6, transl. i^schylus
Swift, Jonathan, 1 667-1 745. His bur-
lesque verses on Philemon and
Baucis, 79, 80 ; C. 30, Apollo Out-
witted ; 34, To Janus ; 113, Fable of
Midas; 224, A City Shower
Swinburne, A. C, 1837-1909. Quoted :
His Garden of Proserpine, 49, 50;
from Atalanta in Calydon, 237 et seq. ;
C.32, Chorus to Artemis ; 34, Chorus
to Aphrodite (in Atalanta in Caly-
don) ; Laus Veneris ; 40, At Eleusis ;
42, Prelude to Songs before Sunrise ;
48, To Proserpine ; J14-117, Song to
Proserpine, At Eleusis ; i2g-i3o. Pan
and Thalassius ; 168, Atalanta in Caly-
don; 174, Itylus; 176-181, Phaedra,
Erechtheus; i82-i8g, Tiresias
Tabley, Lord de (pseud. Wm. P. Lan-
caster), 1835 ., C. 10-13, Pandora;
37, Minos ; 60, Semele ; 8g, Daphne ;
i2g-J30, Ode to Pan ; 2ig-220, Philoc-
tetes; 228-230, Orestes
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